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Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


THE 

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(trade mark) 

Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in 
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Our Little African Cousin 
Our Little Alaskan Cousin 

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Our Little Arabian Cousin 

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Our Little Armenian Cousin 

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Our Little Australian Cousin 
Our Little Brazilian Cousin 

By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 

Our Little Brown Cousin 
Our Little Canadian Cousin 

By Elizabeth R. MacDonald 

Our Little Chinese Cousin 

By Isaac Taylor Headland 

Our Little Cuban Cousin 
Our Little Dutch Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little English Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Eskimo Cousin 
Our Little French Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little German Cousin 
Our Little Greek Cousin 

By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 

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Our Little Hawaiian Cousin 
Our Little Hindu Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Indian Cousin 
Our Little Irish Cousin 
Our Little Italian Cousin 
Our Little Japanese Cousin 
Our Little Jewish Cousin 
Our Little Korean Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 

Our Little Mexican Cousin 

By Edward C. Butler 

Our Little Norwegian Cousin 
Our Little Panama Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 

Our Little Philippine Cousin 
Our Little Porto Rican Cousin 
Our Little Russian Cousin 
Our Little Scotch Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Siamese Cousin 
Our Little Spanish Cousin 

By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 

Our Little Swedish Cousin 

By Claire M. Coburn 

Our Little Swiss Cousin 
Our Little Turkish Cousin 

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NABUL AND HIS DONKEY. 


(See page 2) 









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By 

Blanche McManus 

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Author of “Our Little English Cousin” “Our 
Little Arabian Cousin ” “ Our Little 
Dutch Cousin ” etc . 


Illustrated by 

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Copyright , igo8 
By L. C. Page & Company 

(incorporated) 


Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 


All rights reserved 


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‘ ‘.First Impression, July, 1908 


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Preface 


Our little Egyptian cousins are the descend¬ 
ants of one of the most ancient races on earth, 
but they are very wide-awake to-day in more 
ways than one. 

Little Egyptian boys and girls are as keen and 
bright as their cousins of any land, and though 
their religion is that of Mohammed, the same as 
of our little Arabian cousins, their principles are 
most upright and correct. 

Of recent years many, many thousands of 
little American and English cousins have visited 
the banks of the Nile, and frequent intercourse 
with strangers has given our little Egyptian 
cousins a very broad and intelligent outlook on 
life. 



VI 


Preface 


They have learned scraps of English, and 
indeed French and German too, almost un¬ 
consciously, and if the donkey boys of Cairo and 
the other great tourist resorts are keen little fel¬ 
lows in their efforts to get coins from strangers, 
they are equally desirous of pleasing and give 
good value for their money. 

The Egyptians of to-day are a cleanly, pro¬ 
gressive people, and if they prefer donkey or 
camel back in preference to automobiles and 
railways as a means of travel it is because 
their country is not as yet developed to its full 
possibilities. 

Some day things will be different, for the rail¬ 
way on land, steamboats on the Nile, and elec¬ 
tric cars running from Cairo to the Great Pyra¬ 
mids are bound to somewhat change things. 

It is safe to say, however, that for long years 
to come little American cousins visiting Egypt 
will look upon riding donkeys and camels and 
sailing upon the queer dahabeahs on the Nile as 


Preface 


• • 
Vil 

one of the pleasantest recollections of this old 
historic land. If, too, they can make such warm 
friends of their little Egyptian cousins as did 
George and his uncle Ben the people of modern 
Egypt will remain ever in their hearts as the 
kindest, most likable of folk. 

Alexandria, January , 1908 . 




Contents 


CHAPTER 

I. Nabul and His Little White Donkey 

PAGE 

I 

II. 

A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 

• • 

. 2 7 

III. 

The Boys Climb tiJe Pyramids 

• • 

• 51 

IV. 

Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah . 

• • 

• 71 

V. 

An Egyptian Farm 

• • 

102 




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List of Illustrations 


PAGE 

Nabul and His Donkey ( See page 2) Frontispiece 

Nabul with His Mother and Sisters ... 12 

At the Bazaar.33 ^ 

At the Pyramids.68 

The Dahabeah.76 s 

“ A LAZY - LOOKING OLD CAMEL WAS SLOWLY TURNING 

A GREAT CREAKING WOODEN WHEEL” . . 11 7 





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Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


CHAPTER I 

NABUL AND HIS LITTLE WHITE DONKEY 

“ Hi-yah ! Hi-yah! Who will ride on 
Nabul’s little donkey, — the swiftest donkey in 
all the great city of Cairo ? ” called out a shrill, 
clear voice. Through the crowded street there 
clattered a little white donkey and on his back 
was a small boy, laughing merrily and waving 
a short stick in one hand. 

“ Oh, look to thy face! Oh, look to thy 
heels ! Oh, make way for me, good people ! ” 
cried the little boy as he guided his donkey skil¬ 
fully through the crowd by taps with his heels. 



2 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

As the donkey pushed his way along, every¬ 
body laughed good-naturedly, and stepped 
aside. 

“ ’Tis only that imp of mischief, Nabul, and 
his donkey,” they would say as they made way 
for the little rider, for everybody knew and liked 
little Nabul Ben Hassan, the youngest donkey 
boy in Cairo. 

Presently the donkey trotted around a corner 
and nearly upset a little table of cakes, beside 
which sat an old man fast asleep. “ Plague on 
thee, dost thou not yet know how to drive a 
donkey ? ” grumbled the old fellow, who woke 
up just in time to save his cakes. 

“ Nay, father, ’tis thou who knowst not how 
to sell cakes, for thou wast fast asleep, while the 
flies ate the sugar from thy cakes without paying 
for it,” answered Nabul. This made the passers- 
by laugh, for Nabul was a great favourite in the 
quarter, and the old cake-seller was not, for 
sometimes he tried to cheat them when they 


Nabul and His Donkey 


3 


came to buy his round, brown cakes covered all 
over with honey. 

Nabul now hurried on the faster. He was 
anxious to reach the square-where all the donkey 
boys of the city were to be found at noon, for he 
had a great piece of news to tell his chum Abdal, 
who would be sure to be there. 

Nabul had just come from the big hotel in the 
main street where, along with all the other don¬ 
key boys, he liked to trot his little donkey up 
and down the street in front of the veranda, or 
terrace, of the hotel, hoping to attract the atten¬ 
tion of those strange-speaking people who came 
from over the seas to see his country and to ride 
on the little Egyptian donkeys. 

Indeed, truth to tell, the donkey boys thought 
the strangers came to Egypt just for that pur¬ 
pose, and out of compliment to the travellers, 
and with an eye to business, many of the boys 
named their donkeys after the great people of 
the various countries. There was a “ King Ed- 


4 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


ward ” and a “ Chamberlain ” and a “ Lord 
Cromer,” to please the English, and another 
donkey was named after the French President 
“ Fallieres,” while Nabul himself called his 
“ Teddy,” — you all know who that is, — and 
he usually called him “ Teddy Pasha,” because 
Pasha means, in his language, a great man. 

Nabul already knew about America, that big 
country so far away, for did he not have an uncle 
who had been a “ donkey boy ” in “ The Streets 
of Cairo ” at the great Chicago Exposition, and 
was even now at a place called Coney Island ? 
This uncle wrote him letters full of tales of won¬ 
derful doings, and did he not know also two of 
the oldest donkey boys now in Cairo who had 
been to the big Exposition in America ? 

Little Nabul never tired of listening to the 
marvellous tales they brought back with them, 
and in this way he came to know how to tell the 
Americans from the other strangers who visited 
Cairo, as he watched them sitting on the broad 
terrace of the hotel. 


Nabul and His Donkey 


5 


It was the Americans who laughed and joked 
the most with the little donkey boys. Often, 
too, if they happened to be in a very good 
humour, they would throw them milliemes , the 
smallest of Egyptian coins, and then such a 
scramble as went on among the boys down in 
the street as each tried to get a coin. This would 
only make the visitors laugh the more, when 
they would scatter more coins. 

“ What a country must be that from whence 
these strangers come,” thought Nabul to him¬ 
self, “ that one can throw away money like that! 
How I should like to go there ! Perhaps we will 
some day, Teddy Pasha. I won’t go without 
thee,” he went on, tapping the little donkey 
gently with his heels, as he sat proudly on his 
back. He was turning all this over in his mind 
to-day as he rode to find his cousin Abdal, who 
was most probably taking his midday rest with 
the other donkey boys. 

When he reached the square it was noon. 


6 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

Here, in the shade of the locust and mimosa 
trees which bordered the square, stood dozens 
of donkeys of all sizes and colours, — white and 
brown and black and gray donkeys, with 
bright-coloured saddles and blankets, and on 
their bridles and around their necks were strings 
of little jingling bells. 

There are a great many donkeys in Egypt, 
for almost everybody uses a donkey on which to 
get about, and for that reason there are so many 
donkey boys who make a business of hiring out 
their clever little animals. 

Some of the donkeys were fast asleep, — that 
is, they had their eyes tight shut, but one can 
never tell when a donkey is shamming; others 
were looking very wise out of the corners of their 
eyes, but it may have been that they were only 
planning how to dodge their work, or wondering 
if they could rub their saddles off against the 
tree-trunks, and thus give their young masters 
a little trouble. No one can possibly guess what 


7 


Nabul and His Donkey 

a donkey is thinking about, though it is safe to 
say that Egyptian donkeys, like donkeys the 
world over, are generally up to mischief. 

Meanwhile the young owners of the donkeys 
were stretched out on the ground in the shade. 
Some were playing a game like knuckle-bones; 
others were eating their lunch of honey cakes 
and dates, but all were chattering away at the 
top of their voices like so many magpies. 

“ Ho, here comes the little one! ” they all 
cried out as Nabul rode up, sliding off his don¬ 
key and dropping down beside a boy a little 
older than himself. Meanwhile his little white 
donkey made at once for the bunch of his fellows 
and began pushing them about without cere¬ 
mony, in order to make room for himself in the 
shade. This of course ended in a great braying 
and biting of ears, and the boys had to jump up 
and lay about them with their sticks before order 
was restored. 

“ Thy Pasha is like one possessed of an evil 


8 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


spirit,” said one of the boys as he went back to 
his game. 

“ Nay, he is but masterful; see, he obeys one 
without the stick. Come here, little dove,” 
called Nabul, who whistled to the little donkey 
who wriggled his long ears and came as meek as 
a lamb and stood by the side of his master. 

“ Abdal,” said Nabul eagerly in a low voice 
to his companion lying in the shade, “ I have 
good news for you. As I came by the big hotel 
I saw Mustapha, the dragoman, and he told me 
that it might be that he would want our donkeys 
to-morrow. There are two strangers at the hotel 
who have taken him for their dragoman. They 
have come from America in a big white ship to 
Alexandria, after many days on the ocean, and 
they are to stay a long time in our country. 
Mustapha is to be their guide, and if they want 
donkeys to ride Mustapha will see that they hire 
ours,” and here Nabul paused for breath. 

“ Of a truth they will want donkeys, does 


Nabul and His Donkey 


9 


not every one who comes to Cairo take a donkey 
ride through the bazaars and under the trees of 
the broad avenue leading out to the great pyra¬ 
mids ? ” demanded Abdal, sitting up and be¬ 
coming as excited as his friend. 

“ Yes, but these strangers want to do more 
than that, for Mustapha says they may stay in 
our country for many weeks. One of these 
strangers is a boy like ourselves, and did you 
ever hear of a boy walking when he could 
ride ? ” asked Nabul triumphantly. 

“ But this boy may be different,” said Abdal 
doubtfully; “ however, if Mustapha has prom¬ 
ised — ” 

“ Well, he has,” interrupted Nabul, “ so 
to-morrow we must take care to be the first to 
show ourselves before them.” 

The two boys talked it over awhile longer 
as they ate their bread and dates and bit of 
cheese which they each took from a big pocket 
inside their long gowns. Abdal then ran across 



io Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


the square and bought a melon from a fruit mer¬ 
chant who sat there on a round, straw mat with 
his stock of melons heaped about him. After 
they had finished this the two cousins mounted 
and galloped away, each in a different direction. 

Nabul and Teddy Pasha did some business 
that afternoon, carrying a few people up and 
down the busy streets in the centre of the city, 
but in such an absent-minded fashion on Nabul’s 
part that he very nearly let the Pasha rub a fat 
old gentleman, who was riding him, off against 
a wall. The streets in the older part of Cairo 
are very, very narrow and crooked. 

Usually it was quite dark when Nabul came 
home in the evening, but to-day he was anxious 
to tell the good news to his mother and the little 
sisters, so at sundown he and Teddy Pasha 
turned toward home. 

As the little donkey trotted into the narrow 
street by the river where he and Nabul lived, 
NabuPs two little sisters came running to meet 


Nabul and His Donkey n 

them. They had been watching for their brother 
as was their habit every evening, for often if he 
and Teddy were not too tired when they got 
home, they would be given a little canter to the 
end of the street and back, and they knew also 
that there were usually cakes or sweets in 
Nabul’s pockets for them. 

Nabul was very fond of his little sisters and 
good to them, better than little Egyptian boys 
often are to little girls; and as for the two little 
girls, they thought there was nobody in Cairo 
like their big brother. 

The little girls were dressed in long blue 
cotton gowns and each wore a black veil wound 
around her head and hanging down to her waist. 
One of their greatest pleasures was to go out 
into the crowded city with Nabul, for they sel¬ 
dom went far away from their home by them¬ 
selves. 

This evening they hung close to their brother 
as he led Teddy into his stable, which was on the 


12 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

ground floor of the house. Nabul laughed as 
he caught Zaida peeping into his pocket. “ Yes, 
I have brought thee a sweet morsel,” he said, 
taking a little stick out of his pocket, on which 
were threaded a row of small cakes, “ but I 
have brought you something better than sweet¬ 
meats, a piece of good fortune — maybe it may 
mean new dresses — who knows ? ” and he ran 
up the stairs laughing, with the little girls close 
behind and asking all sorts of questions. 

Thus they tumbled into the big family living- 
room quite out of breath. “ Thou makest noise 
enough for a small army, my children,” said 
their mother, who was setting out the evening 
meal. “ Thou art home early, my son, but all 
must be well, for thou art merry.” 

“ He has a secret and will not tell it to us, 
mother,” cried Menah, the eldest sister. 

“ Now you shall hear it, I waited to tell the 
mother first,” said Nabul as he told his story of 
the strangers who wanted to engage two don- 



NABUL WITH HIS MOTHER AND SISTERS 


























Nabul, and His Donkey 13 

keys and their drivers for, as he hoped, many 
weeks. 

“ It would seem, indeed, to be the hand of 
good fortune which is held out toward thee, ,, 
said the mother Mizram. 

They all sat around on the floor, which was 
covered with matting, and Mizram gave each 
one a thin, flat sort of pancake made of corn 
meal well browned. This was their plate, and 
on it she heaped up a stew of mutton and big red 
peppers fried in oil. Children are never too 
happy nor too excited to eat, but between each 
mouthful they talked their prospects over and 
over again, and were only sorry to think that 
their father was not here, too, to hear the good 
news. Nabul’s father, Mahomet Ben Hassan, 
was the captain of a dahaheah, an Egyptian 
sailing boat, which carried merchandise and 
native passengers up and down the river Nile. 
He was away now on a trip and would not be 
home again for a week or more. An Egyptian 


14 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

household is very industrious, and every one of 
a suitable age and state of health is always very 
much occupied. Soon even the little girls would 
be taught to embroider, and their work would 
be sold to some merchant in the great Bazaar, 
and he in turn would sell it to strangers at, of 
course, a much higher price than the little girls 
would get for their labour. 

When the girls had eaten the cakes that Nabul 
had brought them and some fruit, they sat in 
the big window that overlooked the river, and 
Abdal came in and sat with them until bedtime. 
Abdal’s home was on a farm near Cairo, but 
since he had become a donkey boy he lived 
with friends just at the top of the street. 

The little girls and their mother slept on a 
broad cot in the back room, up against the wall 
which was hung with matting to keep off the 
chill, but Nabul just rolled himself up in a 
woollen coverlid and slept on the hard matted 
floor, just as soundly, too, as he would have done 
in a soft bed. 


i5 


Nabul and His Donkey 

As you may imagine, little Nabul did not 
oversleep the next morning. He was up with a 
bound as soon as he heard the call of the old 
muezzin from the little gallery of a near-by 
mosque, for that meant it was time for every one 
to get up and say his morning prayers and begin 
the work of the day. All over Cairo are found 
these Mohammedan places of worship, and from 
their towers and minarets, five times a day, the 
muezzin’s call to prayer serves the people for a 
town clock. 

“ Thou must put on thy best clothes to-day,” 
said Nabul’s mother, as she opened a low 
wooden box painted green with red and gold 
decorations. This was Nabul’s own particular 
trunk, and from it was taken his best suit. In¬ 
stead of the blue cotton gown which Nabul usu¬ 
ally wore, he to-day put on a white one that had 
pretty yellow silk stripes in it, tying it in with a 
broad red silk sash at his waist. After this he 
stuck his little turban jauntily on the side of his 


16 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


head so that its long black tassel hung right 
down over one eye, but he did not seem to mind 
this in the least 

“ There will not be another donkey boy in 
Cairo as fine as thee,” said little Zaida, clapping 
her hands, while Menah stuffed in her brother’s 
pocket a piece of sweet bread and some dates 
wrapped in a handkerchief for his lunch. Nor 
did she forget a couple of morsels of sugar for 
Teddy Pasha. 

Nabul now rushed down-stairs to the stable, 
the Pasha neighing good morning to him as he 
heard his little master come in the door. Nabul 
brushed and rubbed the little donkey down until 
his coat was as fine and glossy as a little donkey’s 
coat could be. Then he dusted off the gaily col¬ 
oured blanket and threw it over Teddy Pasha’s 
back, and strapped on the high padded red 
saddle, after which, catching the bridle, hung 
with red tassels and little bells in his hand, he 
sprang on his back, Teddy looking back at his 


Nabul and His Donkey 17 

little master and wiggling his ears as though he 
quite approved of everything that had been done. 

“ Now be off, little dove, we are fine enough 
for the Khedive himself,” said Nabul, waving a 
good-bye with his stick to the home folks, and 
riding away to join Abdal, who was just then 
leading his donkey out of its stable door near by. 

“ Art thou ready ? ” cried Nabul as he came 
up to his cousin. Abdal nodded and mounted 
quickly, and away went the two boys laughing 
and shouting and calling out pet names to their 
donkeys as they galloped along. 

Soon the boys had left the narrow winding 
streets of old Cairo behind them, and were 
trotting past the beautiful gardens and through 
the wide thoroughfares where are only the fine 
modern houses and big hotels. Finally they 
halted in front of the great hotel where the 
strangers were staying. 

Early as it was, there was a crowd of natives 
standing on the sidewalk and gathered about 


18 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


the steps leading from the broad terrace to the 
street. All of them were hoping to attract the 
attention of the guests of the hotel, some of whom 
were already eating their breakfasts at little 
tables set about on the terrace. 

There were beggars of all sorts asking alms, 
and street peddlers with their wares well dis¬ 
played. Some of these were loaded down with 
heavy rugs and draperies, others had their arms 
full of gold and silver embroideries, or tinsel 
knickknacks of all kinds. There were snake- 
charmers and musicians and jugglers too. It 
was like a circus or a county fair. There were 
the dragomans, as the guides are called, in a 
group all by themselves, looking as if they owned 
the earth, as they swaggered grandly up and 
down the pavement dressed in their handsome 
silk clothes. No wonder they felt proud, for 
they were a big, fine-looking lot of fellows, and 
most of them spoke many languages. Our two 
little friends looked at them with admiration, 


Nabul and His Donkey 19 


for you must know it is the ambition of every 
donkey boy to become a dragoman himself 
some day. 

In spite of the haste of our little friends, there 
were already other donkey boys ahead of them. 
These were gathered about a tall dragoman who 
stood leaning against the railings smoking his 
cigarette and paying not a bit of attention to 
them. 

“ There is Mustapha, the dragoman/’ whis¬ 
pered Nabul to his friend, pointing to the group; 
“ he too has on his beautiful new clothes.” 

“ Yes, and see how those other fellows stick 
close to him, like flies around a honey jar,” 
answered Abdal. 

“ Aha ! they well know that Mustapha is the 
most popular dragoman in Cairo, and they hope 
that he will hire their donkeys,” answered 
Nabul. 

Our two little friends now slipped off their 
donkeys and ran up to the big dragoman, cry- 


20 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


ing, “ We are here, oh, Mustapha! send away 
these others.” 

This made the other boys clamour all the 
louder. Meanwhile Mustapha paid not the 
slightest attention to any of them, but went on 
puffing away at his cigarette, for Egyptians have 
the bad habit of smoking one of these nasty 
little cigarettes at nearly all times. 

Mustapha did indeed look gorgeous. He had 
on a bright green silk garment and over this a 
pale yellow silk gown; a rich red sash was 
wound round his waist many times and around 
his head was rolled the folds of a great silken 
turban of white and gold. 

“ Thou will want us, oh, Mustapha ? ” ques¬ 
tioned Nabul at last in a whisper, giving Mus- 
tapha’s sleeve a tug to remind the great man 
that they were still there. 

“ Who can tell ? Allah alone knows the mind 
of these strangers,” answered the dragoman, 
finally. “ It may be that they will even want 


Nabul and His Donkey 21 

to ride in one of those evil-smelling flying car¬ 
riages/’ he continued, throwing a scornful 
glance at a big automobile that just at that mo¬ 
ment came to a halt beside them, one of the few 
to be seen in Egypt. 

It is true that there are even automobiles in 
Egypt, and every dragoman and donkey boy is 
very jealous of them, for they are afraid that if 
there are too many automobiles, people will not 
ride on their camels and donkeys. 

“ Who would not rather ride on a beautiful 
donkey like mine than in one of those noisy, 
smelly things ? ” said Abdal, patting his- little 
donkey’s head. 

“ Hush, here come the two strangers,” whis¬ 
pered Abdal, as a little boy, followed by a tall 
gentleman, came out on to the terrace. 

But Mustapha’s quick eye had seen them, 
and forgetting his lofty manners he tossed away 
his cigarette and was smiling and bowing down 
to the ground when the little American boy ran 


22 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


up to him, crying: “ Here is our dragoman, 
isn't he splendid, and look at all the little 
donkeys ! Oh, do let us take a donkey ride 
right now, Uncle Ben,” he went on eagerly, 
“ wouldn't that be lots of fun, so much better 
than tramping about as we did yesterday ? " 

“ Well, it’s the thing to do when one comes to 
Egypt, so perhaps we had better try it if you 
think I can find a donkey high enough to keep 
my feet off the ground,” said the tall gentleman, 
looking the little donkeys over. 

All the donkey boys saw that he was talking 
about them, and pressed eagerly around, wav¬ 
ing their sticks wildly, and each calling out that 
his was the best and fastest donkey in Cairo, 
and there was no other like him in all the world. 

Little Nabul, with his arm over the Pasha's 
neck, called out as loudly as any of them, but 
his heart sank when he saw the little American 
put his hand on the bridle of one of the other 
donkeys standing near him. What chance had 


Nabul and His Donkey 


23 


he among so many big fellows ? And suppose 
Mustapha forgot his promise, after all! Mus- 
tapha was so busy talking to the tall gentleman 
that he paid no attention to the boys. 

At that moment a big donkey boy pushed 
Nabul so roughly to one side that both he and 
Teddy Pasha came very near tumbling between 
the long legs of a great wobbly camel that was 
just coming down the street laden with big 
sacks of grain hung across the humps on his 
back. 

“ You ought to be ashamed of yourself to hit 
a little fellow like that,” cried the little American 
boy, who had seen it all. “ You are twice as big 
as he.” 

Meanwhile Nabul had recovered his balance 
with tears of anger and mortification in his eyes. 
His pretty suit was splashed with mud, and the 
end of the rough, heavy sack that was slung 
across the camel’s back had badly scratched the 
Pasha’s saddle. With his heart almost bursting 


24 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

with grief and rage he went at the big boy with 
Abdal close behind him. If he could only give 
him a good whack with his stick ! 

“ That’s right, go for him,” shouted the little 
American excitedly, rushing down the steps, 
“ I’ll help you out! ” For a minute it looked as 
if there would be a general fight, but Mustapha 
with great dignity got between the boys and 
talked so sternly in Arabic to the big one that he 
was glad enough to slink away to the farther 
side of the street, glad indeed that he had not got 
the beating which he deserved. 

“ Never mind,” said the little American to 
Nabul, “ I will ride your donkey. I think he is 
the nicest of them all, anyway.” 

Nabul did not understand all he said, but he 
knew what he meant quickly enough. 

“ Oh, yes,” he cried, “me speak American, too."” 

_ • 

“Oh, can you ? Then we can talk together 
and we shall understand each other very well,” 
cried the little American with great joy. 


25 


Nabul and His Donkey 

Nabul was so happy that he could only grin 
and point to the Pasha. “ Teddy Pasha, his 
name, Teddy Pasha,” he kept on saying. 

“ Oh, Uncle Ben, his little donkey is named 
Teddy; we must have him now, mustn't we ? ” 
cried George, as our little American friend was 
named. 

“ I don’t imagine he can talk very much 
‘ American ’ as he calls it,” replied Uncle Ben, 
“ but Mustapha has just been telling me that 
these two boys are good reliable little fellows 
and advises us to take them.” 

“ I am sure they are,” said George, enthusi¬ 
astically, who had already made friends with 
the Pasha. 

“ Well, so long as you have made up your 
mind to see Egypt on donkey back, and are 
going to make your staid old uncle do the same 
thing, we will try these two boys and their don¬ 
keys to-day, and if they suit us we will engage 
them for the whole time we are here,” said his 
uncle. 


26 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

“ Oh, you will be sure to like it, Uncle Ben,” 
said George coaxingly; but he well knew that 
his uncle would do anything to please him, even 
to riding on a jolting donkey over the rough 
streets of Cairo. 


CHAPTER II 


A DONKEY RIDE AROUND CAIRO 

After it was all arranged, and Nabul and 
Abdal were actually sure that they were to be 
hired, they were so happy that they did not know 
whether they were standing on their heads or 
heels. 

“ Well, mount your steed, George, and we 

will be off,” said the tall gentleman, George’s 

uncle, Mr. Benjamin Winthrop. Mr. Winthrop 

had already mounted Abdal’s donkey, hunching 

up his knees so that his feet would not touch the 

ground, so George clambered up on Teddy 

Pasha’s high red saddle and the little donkey 

started off at a lively trot without waiting for a 

tap from Nabul’s stick. Away went the little 

27 


28 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


party down the street, the two Egyptian boys 
running along, each by the side of his donkey, 
crying out so as to clear the road ahead, and 
every now and again giving the donkeys a gentle 
stroke with their sticks, not to make them go 
faster, but to guide them. They gave them first 
a tap on one side and then on the other, as 
they wanted them to go to the left or right. 

“ My ! but they bounce you about,” called 
out George to his uncle. It was the first time he 
had ever ridden a donkey and he was holding 
on for dear life for fear he would be shaken 
off. 

“ These Egyptian donkeys have got a funny 
sort of trot, but it’s all right when you once get 
used to it,” said Uncle Ben. “ It's a bit rough 
at first, but just sit easy and you will soon swing 
into the motion.” 

So George tried to look , at least, as if he felt 
easy. Now they had left the new part of the 
city, frequented by the foreigners, behind them, 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 29 

and were entering the old city where only the 
natives live. 

Here the streets are so narrow that often the 
roofs of houses nearly meet overhead, and they 
are so cluttered up that it is a wonder that any 
one can pass along. There were no sidewalks 
and everybody walked in the middle of the 
street. All the people who had any work to do 
seemed to be doing it in the middle of the street, 
instead of in their houses. 

The donkeys soon had to slacken their pace, 
for there was a perfect tangle of people and 
donkeys and little carts, and even a two-horse 
carriage tried to push through occasionally. 
This gave George a chance to breathe easier, 
and watch the process by which Nabul guided 
the Pasha through the crowd. 

“ Keep to the right,oh, my lord ! ’’Nabul cried 
out to a richly dressed man who was crossing the 
street. “ Look to the left of you, oh, my 
mother,” he yelled to an old woman who was 


30 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


bending under a great basket of bread. Little 
Egyptian children usually call old women and 
men by some such respectful names as “ Mother ” 
or “ Father ” or “ My Lord/’ They know well 
how to address their elders. 

Presently there was a great hubbub and 
everybody made way for two tall, strong fellows 
dressed in white, with gaudy red and gold em¬ 
broidered vests and red turbans, who came 
running down the street shouting as they went. 
Each carried a long white wand; behind them 
came a handsome carriage and pair. 

“ Make way for the syces and the carriage of 
the great Pasha,” cried Nabul, and the little 
donkeys squeezed up against the side of the 
house, though even then there was barely room 
for the carriage to pass. 

George wanted to know who syces were. 
Mustapha, who had accompanied the party, 
explained that they were the men servants who 
ran before the carriages of great personages to 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 31 

clear the way for them. They can run all day 
as fast as horses can trot, and never get weary. 

“ Don’t you ever get tired, either ? ” asked 
George of Nabul as he ran along beside him. 
The little Egyptian boy only laughed and shook 
his head It was funny, he thought, how all 
these strangers asked him the same question 
when he took them to ride. He thought nothing 
of running all day long by the side of his donkey. 
Egyptian children are a strong, hardy little race 
of people and never seem to know what it is to 
be tired. They live much in the open air and 
they sleep on a hard bed, all of which tends to 
make them healthy and strong. 

“ Now how on earth are we going to pass 
through here ? ” asked George, as they turned a 
corner and saw a long string of camels com¬ 
ing toward them. Across each camel were slung 
two great bulging sacks that nearly touched the 
houses on each side. 

“ Hi-yah ! Hi-yah ! Jannib ya hu ! ” (which 


32 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


meant, “ Keep to the side, oh, you ! ”) shrieked 
Nabul and Abdal to the men who had the 
camels in charge. But the camels stalked along 
in the middle of the way, wagging their long 
necks and, of course, the donkeys had to stop, 
for there was no room to pass. 

Such a clamour as set up ! The donkey boys 
screamed at the camel drivers, and the camel 
men yelled back at them; while Mustapha sat 
on his donkey calling the camels and their own¬ 
ers all the names he could think of. 

“ One would think they were all going to 
break each other's heads, wouldn’t you, Uncle 
Ben ? ” said George, beginning to get uneasy. 

“ It’s only their way of settling a difficulty, 
they have no idea of doing harm to any one,” 
answered Mr. Winthrop. And this was true 
enough. Egyptians are not as quarrelsome as 
they seem. Peace was restored shortly, and the 
camel drivers prodded their camels with their 
sticks until they squeezed up against one side of 



AT THE BAZAAR 










































A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 33 

the street, leaving just room enough for the don¬ 
keys to get past. As it was, the last camel in the 
line nipped off George’s cap and Nabul had to 
rescue it, but the boys only thought this a good 

Now they were trotting through a long cov¬ 
ered way on either side of which were tiny shops 
or booths for the sale of all sorts of wares. 

“ The Bazaar! the Bazaar where you buy 
pretty things ! ” said Nabul, pointing to the little 
booths where the merchants sat surrounded by 
all sorts of merchandise, clothes to wear, furni¬ 
ture and dishes to use, and good things to eat. 

“ So these are what you call stores; they look 
more like boxes,” exclaimed George. “ Sha’n’t 
we stop now, Uncle Ben, and look at some of the 
things ? ” 

“ Mustapha says we should go to the great 
mosque first, and visit the Bazaars after lunch,” 
called back his uncle. 

So on went the little donkeys, climbing up 



34 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

into the very oldest part of the city, called the 
Citadel. Here they clattered through an an¬ 
cient gateway and soon found themselves in a 
dark, gloomy street. The little donkeys went 
slowly now, for it was a steep climb around and 
around with high walls on either side, until at 
last they came out at the very top on a sort of 
terrace, overlooking the city now far below, and 
there stood the great Mosque of Mohammed- 
Ali, with its great central dome and slender 
towers or minarets. 

“ Isn’t it fine ? ” exclaimed George, as he 
slipped off the Pasha and stood looking up at the 
great building. 

“ Yes, but there are other mosques in Cairo 
that are much older,” answered his uncle, “ but 
this is the most interesting of all to see.” 

“ Alabaster, all alabaster,” said Nabul, laying 
his hand on the stone work near the great en¬ 
trance. 

“ Much of the mosque is built of pure white 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 35 

alabaster,” explained Mustapha, and indeed it 
is a fact that it is built of this fine white stone. 
It shows plainly what good taste these old 
Mohammedan builders had and what fine 
workmen they were. 

“ Can’t we go inside ? ” asked George, start¬ 
ing at once for the door. 

“ Wait, the babouches ,” cried Nabul and 
Abdal together, catching George by the arm and 
pointing to a big pile of yellow slippers just 
inside the door. These slippers, or babouches , 
were in charge of an old man with a long white 
beard and a dirty gown, and he had as assist¬ 
ants two or three boys who squatted beside the 
pile of footwear. On seeing the approach of 
the visitors one of the boys picked out the small¬ 
est pair of babouches he could find and motioned 
to George to put them on over his shoes. 

“ What is that for ? ” asked George, be¬ 
wildered. 

“ No one can enter a Mohammedan mosque 


36 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

with the shoes in which he walks the street,” 
answered Mustapha. “ We Mohammedans 
leave ours at the door, but for the strangers there 
are these slippers, or babouches , to be worn over 
their shoes so that the sacred carpets of the 
mosque may not be defiled.” 

George thought it very funny as he stuck his 
feet into the big, wobbly yellow slippers. Nabul 
simply shuffled out of his own little red slippers 
and left them in charge of the boys at the door, 
whose business it was to guard such footgear 
while their owners were inside. Meanwhile 
Abdal stayed behind to guard the donkeys. 

They entered a great hall where were many 
graceful columns, but the place seemed bare, 
for there were no furnishings of any kind, except 
that the floor was covered with rich rugs, and 

O 7 

from the ceiling hung hundreds of glittering 
lamps. On one side was a sort of pulpit at the 
top of a short flight of stairs. There were a num¬ 
ber of people saying their prayers in the 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 37 

mosque. They would kneel and bow their 
heads to the floor and stand up and raise up 
their arms, all making the motions together. It 
made George think of the gymnastic exercises in 
in his school at home. 

“ Nabul, I believe I have lost one of those 
precious old slippers,” said George, suddenly 
looking down at his feet. 

Nabul looked horrified when he saw George 
with only one slipper on. 

“ I find,” he said, and hurried back the way 
they had come. 

Mustapha turned around to see what was the 
matter, and waved his arms wildly and jabbered 
out a string of words when George told him what 
had happened. 

“ What do you suppose they will do to me, 
Uncle Ben,”laughed George,“put me in prison ? 
It is not my fault the old slipper came off, it’s 
as big as a boat anyhow.” 

“ I know what would have happened not so 


38 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


very many years ago/’ answered his uncle. 
“ We should probably all have been mobbed, 
if not killed, for it is only of recent years that 
people who are not Mohammedans have been 
allowed to come inside the mosques at all. 
There is nothing which shows the character and 
habits of the natives of Cairo better than by 
observing how their religion enters into their 
daily lives.” 

“ It’s a regular ‘ hunt the slipper game/ ” 
said George, as he watched the little Egyptian 
looking carefully over the rugs. 

Suddenly Nabul came running back with 
something in his clothes. 

“ Quick, I put him on,” he whispered, slip¬ 
ping the missing babouche on George’s foot, at 
the same time glancing around to see that no one 
was looking. No one was looking, and nothing 
happened, though George wondered if that 
would have been the case if he had been found 
with only one slipper. 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 39 

At the door they dropped the babouches for 
good, and outside found Abdal playing games 
with some boys, and the donkeys fast asleep. 
They were soon waked up, and our party can¬ 
tered back to the hotel for lunch, for as George 
said, “ It’s funny how seeing things makes you 
so hungry.” 

Mustapha told the boys to be back at two 
o’clock with their donkeys, but just now they 
were cantering off for their own midday meal. 
Nabul was in such high spirits that he must stop 
and buy some hot fried peppers and a pile of 
sticky sweet cakes from the man who sat under 
a big red umbrella frying big red and green 
peppers in a pan of olive oil which stood on a 
small brazier of charcoal. It is the custom for 
the sellers of vegetables and cakes to cook them 
in the open air in order to attract trade by the 
odours and sweet smell of the cooking. 

The man began to ladle out some of the hot 
greasy peppers. “ More, more, ’tis not enough 


40 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

for a coin like that,” cried the boy, throwing 
down a silver piece with a lofty air. 

“ Oho, thou eatest like a nobleman to-day,” 
said the old man, peering at the coin. “ Since 
when have the donkey boys become so 
rich ? ” 

“ There is a little American lord at the big 
hotel, and I am to be his donkey boy,” answered 
Nabul, as he and Abdal carefully divided the 
peppers between them. 

“ Umph, yes, for a ride through the Bazaar 
and back again like all these stranger folk,” 
said the old man as he flung some more peppers 
in his pan. 

The boys only laughed and went off to eat 
their lunch in company with their companions 
in the great square. 

There were a lot of their comrades there and 
they hailed our little friends at once, eager to 
know all about the strangers to whom they had 
hired out their donkeys, but Nabul and Abdal 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 41 


kept a discreet silence, only hinting that the 
strangers were doubtless princes in their own 
country. Donkey boys love to brag, but they 
are apt to be a jealous lot and are on their guard 
against any interference from one another. 

One by one the boys got tired of asking ques¬ 
tions and dozed off curled up on the dusty 
ground; but the young Egyptians did not mind 
this; nor the heat, the sun was very hot even 
though it was in winter; nor the swarm of flies 
that buzzed around them. But little Nabul 
could not sleep, he sat there thinking of the little 
American, and wondering how long he would 
keep him for his donkey boy. 

If he would hire him for a long time what a lot 
of money he would make, and what a lot of 
things he could buy with it. He would buy him¬ 
self a new suit to wear on the last day of Rama¬ 
dan, the Mohammedans’ great religious fete, 
when everybody who possibly could put on new 
clothes of the finest stuffs and the brightest 


42 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

colours. He would buy a new saddle for Teddy 
Pasha, for his present one was looking the least 
bit shabby? and the scratch that it got from the 
rough sack on the camel’s back that morning 
had not improved it in the least. The owner of 
a horse or donkey in Egypt will always dress up 
his steed as elaborately as his means will allow, 
and never, never, if it can be helped, will he 
drive him with a shabby saddle or bridle. Per¬ 
haps, even, there would be enough to buy new 
dresses for the little girls and a pair of silver 
bracelets for the mother, for all Egyptian women 
folk are very fond of jewelry. He would like to 
buy something, too, for the father, but before he 
knew it Nabul was fast asleep dreaming of un¬ 
told riches, and only awoke with a jerk when 
Abdal reached over and shook him into wake¬ 
fulness, for the sun told them it was time to he 
at work again. 

George was hanging over the railing of the 
terrace of the hotel on the look-out for them 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 43 

as they came up, and waved his hat in the air 
when he caught sight of Teddy Pasha again. 

This time all started off towards the quarter 
of the big Bazaars. Here they found many 
tourists like themselves mounted on donkeys, 
for everybody who comes to Cairo must take a 
ride through the Bazaars where there are such 
curious and beautiful things for sale. All the 
same, if one was not a mere tourist, and wanted 
to learn of the manners and customs of the 
people, these curious streets and squares of little 
shops were quite the best places in the city to 
observe how hundreds and thousands of folk 
gained their living in most strange ways. 

It was funny to see the merchants run out and 
hail the passers-by, and beg them to look at 
their wares. One shopkeeper nearly lifted 
Uncle Ben off the donkey, much to George’s 
amusement. Many of them were very polite, 
too, and offered visitors coffee when they took 
their seats on the stools in front of a shop. 


44 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


The people in the Bazaar were almost as inter¬ 
esting as the shops themselves. There were the 
tall Egyptians of the towns and fellaheen from 
the country and Bedouin Arabs from the desert 
in their long, flowing white cloaks, and big black 
people from the Soudan in the far South. Every¬ 
body jabbered at once, but all spoke the same 
speech. It was curious how, looking so different, 
they were all practically of one race and religion. 
There were also numbers of Egyptian women 
all bundled up in black with white veils over 
their faces, for neither the Egyptian nor Arab 
women would ever think of allowing a strange 
man to see their faces. 

George had a chance to become better ac¬ 
quainted with the boys while his uncle was mak¬ 
ing some purchases. He found that not only 
could they speak a little English, but some 
French and a few words of Italian, too. The 
little Egyptian donkey boys are remarkably 
quick to catch up a foreign language. Nabul 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 45 

told him how he had learned his funny broken 
English. He had first picked up words from the 
tourists who rode on his donkey, and Mustapha 
had taught him a good deal, for he spoke Eng¬ 
lish very well. 

Their own speech in Arabic sounds very 
strange when translated into our own tongue, 
as the Egyptians, and indeed all the races which 
speak Arabic, are very fond of using big words, 
and they invariably express themselves in the 
most formal and dignified manner. In the 
evening Nabul had gone to the English school 
all one year, and really he had acquired so much 
English that he could chatter away as fast as the 
little American, if not always so grammatically 
correct. 

So by the time they had ridden through many 
more quaint streets and the beautiful Esbekiyeh 
Gardens and were well on their way back the 
boys were good friends. 

“ Please do tell them now that we will take 


46 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

them for our donkey boys for all the time we are 
here, Uncle Ben,” George whispered when they 
alighted once more at the hotel. 

“ They do seem to be good obliging little 
fellows, and as you are the one to be pleased, 
for you will do most of the riding, I will tell 
Mustapha to arrange it with them,” said Mr. 
Winthrop. 

So it was settled that the services of the two 
boys and their donkeys should be engaged for a 
month, with the understanding that they would 
be free to do business with other people if at any 
time they were not needed. 

And weren't the little Egyptians delighted ! 
They cried “ Salaam, salaam, O gracious 
Effendi! ” many times, which was their way of 
saying “ Thank you, sir! ” They strutted 
through the usual crowd of donkey boys hanging 
about, puffed up with pride, and were followed 
by the envious glances of the other boys, for it 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 47 

was not often one of their number fell in with 
such a piece of good luck. 

And how happy they all were in Nabul’s home 
when he rushed in with the news. The little 
sisters hugged him and the mother gave him an 
extra nice supper, and he went to sleep that 
night dreaming that he was a big, fine dragoman 
and that Teddy Pasha wore a great red turban 
and could talk English. 

Every morning bright and early Nabul and 

• 

Abdal with the donkeys, all looking as spick and 
span as possible, would be waiting in front of 
the hotel for the little “ Effendi,” as they called 
George Winthrop, and when Mr. Winthrop and 
George were ready away they would ride. 

Big, fat Mustapha, jolting up and down on 
his own donkey, would lead the way, and showed 
them each day some of the many strange and 
curious things to be seen in and around the city, 
until finally George felt quite as much at home 
in Cairo as did his new found friends. 


48 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


One day they hurried through lunch to go to 
see the “ Whirling Dervishes,” a queer lot of 
people, who spin around and around like a top, 
as fast as ever they can, until they are so tired 
they drop on the floor. They saw the “ Howling 
Dervishes,” too, men in gowns of many colours, 
with wild faces and long hair, whose blood¬ 
curdling howls as they swayed themselves to and 
fro almost frightened George, who could not 
understand how people could possibly do such 
queer things as an act of worship. These are 
only two of the many sects of the Mohammedan 
religion. 

One day they crossed over to the island in the 
river Nile, where Mustapha knocked at a gate 
which was opened by a man in a long green 
gown, and they found themselves in a garden 
among trees loaded with oranges and lemons. 
Here George crept behind the boys along the 
top of a wall to a spot where, so the story runs, 
the baby Moses was found asleep in his cradle 


A Donkey Ride Around Cairo 49 

in the bulrushes by a daughter of the Pharaoh. 
The Pharaohs were the ancient kings of Egypt. 
It was most interesting for George, who was sur¬ 
prised indeed to find this land of Mohammedan¬ 
ism had recollections also of his own Christian 
religion. 

Another day they all rode out to a place named 
Heliopolis, where long ago there was a great city 
called the City of the Sun. Now only a tall 
granite obelisk stands there, and any little 
American can see its “ twin/’ as George called 
it, if he or she will go to New York City and look 
at the big obelisk which stands in Central Park. 
Once upon a time several obelisks stood side by 
side at Heliopolis, but the Khedive, the ruler of 
Egypt, some years ago wanted to make a valu¬ 
able present to the United States, so he gave 
them one of these obelisks, the same which to¬ 
day may be seen in New York City. 

When they visited the great Museum Uncle 
Ben and George stood amazed before the great 


50 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

mummy cases and the petrified mummies them¬ 
selves (many of them the old kings of Egypt), 
which have been buried for thousands of years, 
and only recently been brought to light. It is 
by preserving all these great finds, dug up from 
the soil often in the most unexpected places, 
that it has been possible to write the history of 
Egypt. 


CHAPTER III 


THE BOYS CLIMB THE PYRAMIDS 

“ Uncle Ben, I am going to ride the Pasha 
out to the Pyramids,” announced George, as 
they were talking over their plans for a trip to 
the great Pyramids of Gizeh. They had just 
come in from a ride, and Nabul and Abdal were 
anxiously waiting, fearful lest the tall Effendi 
would say, “ Well, boys, we won’t need you 
to-morrow.” 

“ Do you really mean to say that when you 
can either drive in a comfortable automobile or 
carriage, or ride on a street-car out to the Pyra¬ 
mids, that you prefer donkey back ? ” asked his 
uncle. 

“ Indeed I do, Uncle Ben, it’s lots more fun,” 


52 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


said George, “ besides we can ride in automo¬ 
biles and street-cars when we are home." 

George was now quite used to riding donkey- 
back, though didn't he feel tired and bumped 
about the first day or two ! But now he could 
ride as well as the little Egyptian boys, and Na- 
bul had taught him how to guide the donkey by 
taps with his heels; as for Teddy Pasha, he 
obeyed George almost as well as he did his little 
master. 

“ And Nabul, how will he get out there, run 
all the way ? It's some distance, you know," 
said Mr. Winthrop, smiling at the boys. 

“ No, no ! ’’ broke in Nabul eagerly, “ I ride 
behind the young Effendi; Teddy Pasha, he is 
strong." 

“ Yes, uncle, you know how strong these little 
donkeys are; they don’t mind one bit carrying 
two persons. When Nabul gets tired of walking 
he can easily ride behind with me, can’t you, 
Nabul ? ’’ chimed in George. 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 53 

Nabul nodded vigorously, “ Yes, yes.” 

“ Well, if you boys and Teddy Pasha don’t 
mind, it’s all right,” laughed Uncle Ben, “ but 
if you don’t object, I am going to drive, so, 
Abdal, I will not want you to-day, but there is a 
gentleman in the hotel who wants a donkey boy, 
and I have told him to take you,” continued 
Mr. Winthrop. 

The boys all pulled long faces, especially 
Abdal, who knew he was going to miss a good 
time, for they intended to take their lunch and 
stay the day. 

“ It is just as well if neither of them went,” 
muttered Mustapha, “ there is sure to be trouble 
with the boys out there.” 

George started to ask why, but before he had 
a chance Mustapha carried the boys off to make 
arrangements for the morrow. 

Little Nabul was at his usual place bright and 
early the next morning, all ready for their trip 
to the great Pyramids. He had a broad grin on 


54 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

his face as he peered through the railings and 
“ salaamed ” or bowed to Mr. Winthrop and 
George, who were finishing their breakfast at 
one of the little tables on the terrace. 

The Pasha, too, looked around and wriggled 
his ears knowingly. 

“ He smells sugar, the rascal,” exclaimed 
George, who had got in the habit of giving him 
sugar, and so, filling his pocket from the sugar- 
bowl, he came down into the street and began 
feeding it to the donkey. 

Mustapha now came up with a small open 
carriage, and they got off at once, leaving Abdal 
looking very blue. 

Uncle Ben was in the carriage and Mustapha 
on the seat beside the driver, while George on 
Teddy Pasha trotted along, guided by Nabul 
on foot as usual. 

Soon they were crossing the bridge across the 
Nile which has two great stone lions at either 
end, and then out on to a long, straight avenue 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 55 

shaded by big trees, which leads straight as an 
arrow from the city of Cairo out to the Pyramids. 

There were many people coming and going 
along the great avenue. The country folks were 
bringing their produce into the city to sell, and 
much of it was carried on the backs of donkeys. 
There were great lumbering carts drawn by 
oxen, and long lines of camels, laden with such 
big loads piled on their backs that they looked 
like moving mountains. 

Up to the very gates of Cairo come the great 
gardens and farms which grow bountiful sup¬ 
plies of vegetables and fruits, and there are even 
great wheat-fields watered by the flowing Nile 
and tilled by the fellaheen, or labourers, after 
the same manner that the natives of Arabia, 
across the Red Sea, worked in Bible times. 

Egypt is a great and progressive and very 
wealthy country, but the country folk have not 
all been taught as yet how to get the best results 
from their labour. They are learning rapidly, 


56 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

however, and they see things in the city, when 
they bring their produce to market, which please 
their fancies, and now in many an Egyptian 
farmhouse built of sun-baked mud, and even 
in the tents of the Bedouin Arabs of the desert, 
one often sees those common nickel alarm 
clocks, oil lamps, and even little hand sewing- 
machines. 

Amidst all this throng of country people going 
citywards our friends made but slow progress. 
Often the little donkeys from the country would 
pass, carrying two and sometimes three big men 
on their backs. 

“ See what great loads these country donkeys 
have to carry,” said Nabul to his donkey. 
“ Thou shouldst be willing to carry me for a 
while,” and so saying Nabul jumped up on 
Teddy Pasha’s broad back behind the little 
American. 

Teddy Pasha turned his head around with an 
inquiring look as much as to say, “ Oh, yes, I 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 57 

can see you,” and then drooped his ears, then 
stood stock-still. Not a foot would he budge. 

“Go on,lazy one, is this the way that thou wilt 
disgrace me ? ” cried Nabul, beating his heels 
against the Pasha. “ No one will again believe 
me when I praise thee ! Oh, thou ungrateful 
beast! ” he continued, half-crying with vexa¬ 
tion. By this time the carriage was far ahead 
and some little children wading in a pool by the 
wayside began to jeer at them. 

George remembered the sugar in his pocket 
and tried to coax the Pasha with some of it. The 
Pasha ate it gratefully, but that was all he would 
do. 

At this moment the boys heard some one 
laugh behind them, and the jingle of donkey 
bells, and who should go dashing past them but 
Abdal on his donkey, Bobs ! 

The minute Pasha saw it was Bobs passing 
him he got on his mettle and away he went after 
him. Meantime the carriage had halted, and 


58 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


when the boys came up, Uncle Ben was looking 
anxiously around and Mustapha was ready to 
scold. 

“ Why dost thou linger ? ” he demanded of 
Nabul, “ and Abdal, why art thou not in the 
city earning money instead of galloping all over 
the country ? ” 

44 I knew well that when the EfFendi reaches 
the great Pyramids he will want to ride out to 
see the wonderful Sphinx, and I knew, too, he 

would not want to ride one of those miserable 

* 

little donkeys that one finds there, so, behold, I 
am here at his service,” and Abdal, quite un¬ 
abashed, smiled so sweetly at Mr. Winthrop, 
that the gentleman did not have the heart to 
scold him for deserting his friend at the hotel. 

44 Thou wilt have to fight, then, with the don¬ 
key boys at the Pyramids; they will call thee a 
meddler, and perhaps beat thee,” called out 
Mustapha ungraciously as the little procession 
started on again. 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 59 

“ Pouf,” said Nabul, “ they are only Bed¬ 
ouins.” The little boys who live in Cairo have 
a great contempt for the Bedouins, the people 
who live in the desert. 

“ Why should they object to our riding your 
donkeys ? ” asked George, full of curiosity. 

Nabul explained in his broken English that 
there was a tribe of Bedouins who lived near the 
Pyramids, who thought that they only had the 
right to act as guides to the visitors who come 
to see these great monuments. This was because 
the men of their tribe had been doing this for 
years and years; and it was thus that they re¬ 
sented any one coming in and interfering with 
their ancient privileges. 

“ I call that real selfish, don’t you, Uncle 
Ben ? ” exclaimed George. 

“ But they shall not fight me and Abdal, we 
are your donkey boys; you ride our donkeys in 
the great city, and you shall ride our donkeys 
at the Pyramids; it is the same thing; they 


60 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

shall not run us away/’ said little Nabul 
stoutly. 

“ We won’t let them/’ declared George, and 
he doubled up his fists, “ we’ll fight first.” 

“ Behold the great Pyramids ! ” called out 
Mustapha, pointing between the trees. Sure 
enough, there stood the three Pyramids, that 
every child knows so well from the pictures, 
rising one behind the other. 

“ They look very small,” said George dis¬ 
appointedly. 

“ But they are big, very big, wait and you 
will see,” said Nabul. This was quite true. As 
they rode nearer, the Pyramids seemed to grow 
bigger and bigger. Now as they had come to 
the end of the avenue the carriage stopped, for 
only the sandy desert lay beyond. 

Abdal had Bobs ready and Uncle Ben 
mounted, and away they went up a sloping hill 
toward the largest of the three Pyramids. All 
around the base of this Pyramid were gathered 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 61 

a crowd of Egyptians, men and boys, leading 
camels and donkeys. As soon as they caught 
sight of the little party, this howling crowd came 
rushing to meet them. A number of them 
gathered around Uncle Ben and George, catch¬ 
ing hold of them; shouting in their own lan¬ 
guage and in broken English, “ Take me for 
guide! Take me for guide!” Such a din as 
they kept up was never heard anywhere else. 

George did not know whether to laugh or to 
feel frightened when two big fellows tried to pull 
him off his donkey, but he held on to Teddy 
Pasha for dear life, and the Pasha helped him 
fend off the fellows by backing his ears and kick¬ 
ing out with his heels. 

Meanwhile Nabul and Abdal were brandish¬ 
ing their sticks in the faces of the Bedouins and 
calling them all kinds of names, all the while 
holding on tightly to the bridles of their own 
donkeys. Big, fat Mustapha forgot all about 
his dignity and went at the fellows, trying to 


62 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


push them away and shouting at the top of his 
voice. In the midst of the fuss Nabul cried out: 
“ O Sheik, O Sheik, decide for us ! ” At the 
same time he rushed up to a tall man with a 
long gray beard and flowing white garments, 
who strode up, giving the crowd of Bedouins a 
whack first to one side and then to the other 
with a high staff which he carried in his hand. 

“ Oh, thou ruffians, wilt thou drive the 
strangers away with thy violence ? ” demanded 
the old man, looking sternly around him, while 
Mustapha explained things to him. 

“ The Sheik will make them behave now,” 
said Abdal. 

“ How can he ? ” asked George, glad to be 
free of the two Bedouins who had been pestering 
him. 

“ It is the Sheik of the Pyramids, the chief of 
the tribe, they must obey him,” answered Nabul. 

“ Who gave them the right to guard the Pyra¬ 
mids ? Why can’t anybody walk around here 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 63 

alone if he wants to ? ” persisted the American 

“ I know not, it has always been so,” said 
Nabul with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“ Ah ! And they pay many pieces of gold as 
a tax for the right,” chimed in Abdal, looking 
wise. 

“ They rob the travellers of money, too, the 
thieves ! ” returned Nabul, glowering at a bunch 
of donkey boys who were poking all manner of 
fun at the little boys from the city, though they 
did not dare to attack them while the Sheik was 
around. 

Mustapha had evidently arranged matters 
with the Sheik, and came back with four of the 
Bedouins whom he said would take Mr. Win- 
throp and George up to the top of the great 
Pyramid. 

“ Dear me, I certainly don’t need two big 
men to help me climb up there,” exclaimed 
George. “ Why, it must be as easy as can be to 



64 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

climb from one of those steps to another, Uncle 
Ben.” 

“ It’s probably harder work than it looks, 
just try it,” answered his uncle. 

Mustapha was going to sit in the shade and 
have a friendly smoke with the Sheik, and rest 
after his exertions, but he very graciously told 
Nabul and Abdal that, if they wanted to, they 
could leave their donkeys in his charge and 
climb up with the “ young Effendi.” 

Nothing loath, the little Egyptians began to 
scramble up the side of the great Pyramid, call¬ 
ing to George to follow, that they knew the way. 

The Pyramids are so built that the stones 
form great steps from the bottom to the top. 
To George’s great surprise when he got to the 
firstof these steps, which looked so small from the 
ground, he found it was as high as he was. The 
little Egyptian boys quickly hoisted themselves 
up, and nothing daunted, George followed as 
best he could; but after two or three of these 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 65 

high steps, he was glad enough to have his two 
guides take hold of his arms — one on either 
side — and lift him easily from one big step to 
the other. George was so out of breath that he 
could not say a word, but only watch Nabul and 
Abdal away ahead of him, climbing up the 
great stone blocks like gazelles. The ascent 
seemed to take a long time to George, but it was 
really only a few minutes before the two Bed¬ 
ouins lifted him over the last step. Close be¬ 
hind him came his uncle, panting between his 
two guides, and the little party now found them¬ 
selves on a sort of platform at the tip-top of the 
great Pyramid. 

How much could be seen from their lofty 
perch ! And how eager were the little Egyptians 
to point out everything to the strangers ! 

There were the other two Pyramids, much 
smaller than the one they stood on, which is 
called the Pyramid of Cheops. On one side 
stretched the great yellow desert of sand and 


66 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


rocks; on the other were green fields and groups 
of little Arab villages and palm-trees. That 
silver ribbon running through the green fields, 
way off yonder, was the great waterway of the 
Nile, and there beside it was the big white city 
of Cairo. They laughed as they looked down 
on the guides and donkey boys far below, for 
they looked like little toy figures. 

“ The Pyramids were built for tombs, weren’t 
they, Uncle Ben ? ” asked George, as they rested 
and sipped tiny cups of coffee, which they 
bought from a man dressed in a yellow gown 
and green turban who sat beside a small brazier 
of charcoal making coffee to sell to the visi¬ 
tors. 

“Yes, by those old Kings of Egypt — the 
Pharaohs. The stones of which they are built 
were brought from great distances and put into 
place by regular armies of men who worked many 
long years. Even to-day there is more or less 
mystery surrounding them, and strangers from 


The Boys Climb the Pyramids 67 

all over the world never cease to wonder and 
marvel at these curious monuments.” 

After resting awhile, our party climbed down 
again, which was almost as hard work as getting 
up. At the bottom the donkey boys of the Pyra¬ 
mids were waiting for them again, and only the 
Sheik’s stern eye kept them in good order. 

“ You see that door there,” said Nabul, point¬ 
ing to an opening in the base of the Pyramid; 
“ you can go inside if you like. It is said that 
the great kings of olden times were buried in 
there. That is the door to the tombs; and there 
is a great room inside with pictures painted on 
the walls, but oh, it is dark, I like it not,” said 
little Nabul, shaking his head. 

George did not think he would like it, either, 
and wanted to know where the Sphinx was. 
So all mounted the donkeys again and trotted 
through the sand to see the Sphinx, followed by 
the disappointed Bedouin donkey boys who 
finally one by one trailed off and left them in 
peace. 


68 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


“ I thought the Sphinx was right beside the 
Pyramids. I don’t see it now,” said George. 

“ It is there, the great Sphinx, see! ” said 
Nabul, as they turned around a hillock of sand. 
Sure enough there was the big stone head stick¬ 
ing up out of the sand. Nabul and Abdal 
brought the donkeys to a standstill in front of it, 
and the boys stood on the edge of a great pit 
staring at the strange figure which has the head 
of a human being and the body of a lion, and 
which was carved out of the rock so long ago that 
no one now knows its history. 

“ Look, the Sphinx smiles, she always smiles 
like that,” whispered Nabul (he called it 
“ Spinkie ” in a funny little way). “ I think 
sometimes I can see her mouth move.” It is 
quite true that the stone lips do seem to smile. 

“ Let’s climb up and whisper something in its 
ear,” said George. The boys ran down the slop¬ 
ing sides of the great pit in which sat the Sphinx, 
but to George’s amazement he found that he 



AT THE PYRAMIDS 










The Boys Climb the Pyramids 69 


could not even climb up to one of the great 
paws, much less the head which towered high 
above them. 

By this time they all decided that they were 
very hungry, and that it would be a line idea to 
have a picnic between the paws of the great 
Sphinx. So Mustapha opened the lunch basket 
which he had brought, and the little party seated 
themselves in the shade of the strange stone face, 
and spread out the contents of the palm-leaf 
basket on a big flat stone. Nabul and Abdal 
had their lunch stowed away somewhere in their 
garments, and they were eager that George 
should taste their favourite dish of fried peppers 
that — ugh ! — made his mouth smart, though 
he liked their sweet honey cakes. But not for 
anything would the little Egyptian boys eat any 
of the nice cold ham which was a part of his 
lunch, for no little Mohammedan child, or grown 
person either, would touch pork in any shape or 
form. It was against their religion. 




70 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

Then they discovered that they were very 
thirsty, and Abdal ran off to find something cool 
to drink, and came back with one of the vendors 
of lemonade who hang around the Pyramids 
selling their cool drinks. The sherbutli, as Abdal 
called him, wore a bright red apron and carried 
little blue china cups on a brass tray. These he 
filled with lemonade from the big glass bottle 
which was slung over his shoulder, and the chil¬ 
dren thought nothing ever tasted nicer. 

They rested for awhile and amused them¬ 
selves watching the people who came riding up 
on camels or donkeys to see the Sphinx. Finally 
Mustapha said it was time to go back to the 
city, and though George stoutly declared he 
wasn’t a bit tired he was not really sorry when 
Uncle Ben said that he had better drive back in 
the carriage with him, and Teddy Pasha and 
Bobs were probably glad, too, when they turned 
into their stables that night. 


CHAPTER IV 


BEN HASSAN*S DAHABEAH 

Nabul often talked with the “ little Effendi ” 
during their rides together, of his home and the 
mother and the two little sisters, and about his 
father and the dahabeah with its huge sails, 
until nothing would do but George must know 
them all and take a trip on the dahabeah. 

The boys had their heads together a lot these 
days, and at last it came out that it would be 
a splendid plan for all of them to take a trip 
up the Nile on the dahabeah of NabuPs father. 

“ Think what a treat it will be, Uncle Ben,” 

said George, “ to go and live on a real Egyptian 

boat. NabuPs mother is going to keep house 

for us on board, and the little girls will help 

7i 


72 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

her. Then, just think ! we can take the don¬ 
keys, too,” continued George, warming up more 
and more to his subject. 

“ Well! George, you seem to have thought 
of everything,” and Mr. Winthrop laughed long 
and heartily. “ I did not know you had such 
a head for business. It does not seem a bad 
idea, however, this river trip of yours; there 
must be much that is interesting to be seen in 
that way,” continued his uncle. “ I will ask 
Mustapha what he thinks about it.” 

“ Uncle Ben, you are a good fellow! ” 
exclaimed George, jumping up and hugging 
his uncle, for now he would have a chance to 
see something of the real life of the country 
such as the tourists who stayed only in the 
cities never had. 

Mustapha was very bland and gracious when 
he found out that he was expected to go along, 
too. He said that Ben Hassan, Nabul’s father, 
was a good friend of his, that there was no more 


Ben Hassan s Dahabeah 73 


skilful captain nor better dahabeah on the 
Nile than his, and that everything could be 
arranged as they wished. 

Nabul was a happy little boy the day he 
guided these wonderful Americans, as he 
always thought of them, to his home. There 
they met Nabul’s father, a tall, grave man of 
few words. While he and Uncle Ben talked the 
trip over (with Mustapha as interpreter, though 
Ben Hassan knew some English), Mizram 
the mother gave them coffee served in tiny cups 
without handles, each set in a brass holder, — 
the thick Turkish coffee which is all grounds 
and sugar which one gets in Egypt. Then the 
two little sisters crept in to see the kind people 
their brother had talked so much about. Menah, 
who was the eldest, was rather shy and quiet, 
but Zaida was a roguish, merry little soul who 
made friends easily. They did not know a 
word of English, but by smiles and gestures 
they made friends with George and showed him 


74 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

all their treasures. There was the big white 
cockatoo who swung on his perch and could 
talk, and a cage of small singing birds that 
Abdal’s father had sent them. 

And the little girls had some dolls of which 
they were very proud. The dolls were queer 
little figures, fashioned after those which had 
been dug up from old tombs where they had 
been buried for centuries. There were odd 
little stone and clay figures, too, which the girls 
treasured quite as much as they did the dolls 
in human form. One was in the form of a Nile 
crocodile, another of a buffalo and another of 
a lion, and still others in the form of goats, 
camels, and donkeys. There was another doll 
in the form of a man carrying a great basket 
on his shoulder and another of a washerwoman. 

The custom of little Egyptian children play¬ 
ing with these dolls and figures is very old — 
for all the world their dolls are like the Noah’s 
Ark animals which you have at home — and 


Ben Hassans Dahabeah 75 

ages and ages ago, when little children died, 
their dolls were always buried with them. 

After the call upon Nabul’s family everybody 
trooped down to the river to see the Isis, which 
was the name of Ben Hassan’s dahabeah, and 
Mr. Winthrop agreed with George that it was 
just the thing they would both like, so it was 
all arranged on the spot without further ado, 
and it was decided that they would start on the 
voyage up-river the following week. 

Finally the day came to set sail. It was indeed 
a busy morning for the family of Ben Hassan ! 
Baskets and pots and pans and jars and sacks 
of clothing and household belongings of all 
kinds were loaded on to Teddy Pasha and 
Bobs, who must have wondered to themselves 
what was going to happen. At last everything 
had been thought of, Nabul’s mother gave the 
last directions to the friends whom Abdal lived 
with who were to look after the house and the 
fowls and the birds while they were away, then 


76 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

amid good-byes from the neighbours, who 
were all at their windows and doors to see them 
off, the little procession started down to the 
river landing where lay the dahabeah. 

“ Hurry up, lazy one,” cried Abdal, “ thou 
wilt have plenty of time to rest,” as he hurried 
Bobs along with a tap from his stick. 

“ Thou dost not go that way to-day,” said 
Nabul, giving Teddy Pasha’s bridle a jerk as 
he started to turn down his habitual street. 
“ Thou goest on a longer journey to-day.” 
And the two little donkeys put their heads 
together as if to discuss this unusual proceeding. 

When they got to the dahabeah everybody 
was bustling about, putting the boat in order for 
the voyage. Nabul’s father was standing on the 
little upper deck giving orders to some of the 
crew who were looking to the ropes and sails, 
while others were scrubbing the deck. Here 
and there were piled up all sorts of things, 
gaily painted wooden boxes, which are the 



Blanch* AU Manus 


THE DAHABEAH 














Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 77 

kind of trunks Egyptians use, baskets of eatables, 
live chickens, and big water-jars. 

Everybody was talking and shouting all at 
once in the usual Egyptian fashion. Mizram, 
however, at once set to work to get things 
straightened out, and the little girls helped her 
as best they could. 

In the midst of it all the carriage drove up with 
Mr. Winthrop and George and their baggage, 
with Mustapha beside the driver. George was 
standing up waving his cap, and was out of 
the carriage before it stopped. He rushed up 
the gang-plank and on to the deck, and insisted 
on shaking hands with everybody, beginning 
with the reis, as a Nile captain is named, and 
ending with the boy washing down the deck. 
Every one was greatly surprised, for Egyptians 
don’t known anything about shaking hands 
in our way. Their ceremonies of politeness 
are quite as marked, but very different, as, 
for instance, a kiss on the forehead. 


78 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

Meanwhile Mustapha was in his element, 
storming about and calling on the great Prophet 
Mohammed to bear witness that they would 
never be able to get off with such a crew of 
dullards. 

“ As for me I am going to get out of the way 
by going on the upper deck, it seems to be 
the only quiet place on board,” said Uncle Ben, 
as he dodged the chickens and took refuge on 
the elevated stern of the boat where the grave, 
stately reis gave him a deep salaam of welcome. 

Urged on by Mustapha’s threats, the little 
crew soon began to get things in order. The 
tug of war came when it was time for the 
donkeys to come aboard. The boys got them 
up to the plank, but there they just planted 
their feet down firmly and not another step 
would they budge. They weren’t going to 
leave dry land. Nabul coaxed and pulled, 
and Abdal clucked and prodded, but all Teddy 
Pasha did was to back his ears and give an 


Ben Hassans Dahabeah 79 


awful bray, which made the crowd of loafers 
gathered on the river bank laugh. Finally 
Nabul tied a cloth over the Pasha’s head, and 
while he pulled hard at the bridle in front Abdal 
tweaked the little donkey’s tail, and this made 
him so mad that he dashed up the plank and 
on to the deck before he knew it, and just as 
soon as Bobs saw him go he rushed aft. The 
donkeys were then led triumphantly to their 
quarters in the prow of the boat, where they 
were very comfortable and content. George 
at once christened this part of the boat “ the 
menagerie,” for the chickens were already there 
pecking away at some grain, each fastened to 
the railing by a long string tied around one leg 
to keep them from flying overboard. The 
little girls, too, had brought the big white 
cockatoo to keep them company, and his wooden 
cage hung against the side of the cabin, while 
curled up in a tight box was a tame snake 
belonging to one of the crew. The Egyptians 


80 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

of all ages and all classes are very fond of 
pets. 

George was as excited and happy as could 
be as he rushed about with the children from 
one end of the boat to the other. 

“ Isn’t it funny to see sailors in long white 
gowns and turbans on their heads, Uncle Ben ? ” 
laughed George. “ How can they ever climb 
up the rigging in clothes like that ? ” 

“ But they don’t have any rigging to climb, 

on a dahabeah, they only have to shift a rope 

\ 

once and again,” said Mr. Winthrop. 

There was a large sail in the bow and a 
much smaller one in the stern, each of them 
of the great pointed lateen variety seen on 
the rivers and along the coasts of all Mediter¬ 
ranean countries. The boat itself was a sharp- 
prowed, broad-bottomed affair which seemed 
to glide over the water rather than through it. 
The Nile dahabeahs are among the most pic¬ 
turesque boats afloat. 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 81 


In the stern, on the lower deck, were two 
small cabins for Uncle Ben and George, and 
a little saloon to eat in. Further forward was 
the kitchen and storeroom, and beyond these the 
quarters for the reis’s family and Mustapha. 

“ We sleep on the deck,” said Nabul. “ Abdal 
and I just roll up in a blanket and lie down on 
the deck boards, and sleep just like the crew.” 

“ I should like to do that, too; it must be 
lots more fun than sleeping in a stuffy little 
cabin,” exclaimed George, much interested. 

“ It’s hard if you aren’t used to it, but we 
think nothing of doing so,” said Abdal. 

At last the friends who had come down to 
see them off had taken their leave, and the gang¬ 
plank was drawn in, the sails unfurled, and two 
of the men seized a couple of big oars and pushed 
off the prow from the bank. Slowly the daha¬ 
beah swung over to the middle of the stream; 
the crowd on shore shouted a last farewell; 
the breeze caught and filled the big sails, and 


82 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


in a few minutes they were gliding swiftly 
through the muddy brown water of the Nile, 
up river toward the very heart of the “ dark 
continent ” of Africa. 

On the upper deck Mustapha had just put 
two long wicker chairs for the “ Effendis,” 
and Uncle Ben, who had picked up a little 
Arabic, was comfortably stretched out in one 
trying to talk with the reis, who sat beside him 
on a rug spread on the deck smoking his big 
“ hubble-bubble ” pipe, every once in awhile 
giving an order to one of the crew as they 
trimmed the sails to catch all the breeze. 

Mats were spread on the decks for the others; 
the children, however, were too busy to think 
of sitting down; they kept running from one 
side to the other, watching the houses and people 
on the banks as they slipped past, and the queer 
craft going and coming on the river. 

“ There come three nuggars,” said Abdal, 
pointing to three broad, flat, barge-like boats, 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 83 


each with a high lateen sail, coming slowly 
toward them. 

“ What a funny name! what are ‘ nug¬ 
gars ’ ? ” asked George. 

“ Nuggars are the great Nile cargo boats 
which carry all kinds of merchandise up and 
down the river,” said Nabul. “ See the great 
boxes and bales on that one,” he continued. 

“ And the one behind has a lot of oxen and 
sheep on it; they are loaded down to the water’s 
edge, I wonder they don’t sink,” said George. 
“ Oh ! And here come three haystacks floating 
down-stream ! With sails on top of them, too ! ” 
he cried. 

But no, they too were boats, this time loaded 
with fodder and the long green bamboos which 
were being carried to the city. Then a ferry¬ 
boat filled with people and donkeys crossed the 
river ahead of them, rowed by men in dark 
blue cotton gowns. It was all so novel and 
amusing the children were almost sorry to stop 


84 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


looking in order to eat lunch, though George 
did say he was hungry enough to eat a hippo¬ 
potamus. 

One of the men brought a table and noiselessly 
set it on deck for the “ Effendis,” and then 
served them the nice things that Mizram had 
cooked. There was chicken with a nice hot 
pepper sauce and rice and all kinds of vegetables 
and melons and dates and oranges. 

At the other end of the deck the reis and his 
family and Mustapha had their meal. Mizram 
served them all sorts of queer dishes that the 
little Egyptians kept on bringing to the “ Ef- 
fendi ” to taste; and how they laughed at the 
faces the little American made over some of 
them! 

“ ‘ After Al-Ghada, rest, if it be but for two moments; 

After Al-Asha, walk, if it be but two steps,’ ” 

said Mustapha, quoting one of their proverbs 
as he stretched himself on a rug for a nap after 


Ben Hassans Dahabeah 85 

dinner. Al-Ghada is dinner and Al-Asha is 
supper. 

“ Nabul, what is in that bag ? ” asked George, 
pointing to a big brown bag which hung on the 
side of the mast of the dahabeah, and which one 
of the men was just taking down. 

“ It is the food of the crew. They put it 
there so that all can see it and. no one can steal 
any of it without his fellows seeing him. The 
crew are going to eat their dinner now,” ex¬ 
plained Nabul, “ and that fellow there has just 
climbed up and unhooked it.” 

By this time the sun was beating down hotly 
on the canvas awning over the deck, and one by 
one everybody followed Mustapha’s advice, 
except the men on duty. The little Egyptian 
children, curled up on their mats, were soon 
sound asleep. George stoutly declared that he 
was not going to miss anything by sleeping. 
Mr. Winthrop had brought a book that told 
all about Egypt, and George listened while his 


86 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


uncle read aloud about Memphis, which they 
would soon pass. Thousands of years ago it 
had been another burial-place, when the haughty 
Pharaohs reigned in Egypt. But the first thing 
that George knew, he had forgotten all about 
the Pharaohs, and woke with a start in his big 
chair by the rattle of the sails as they were 
dropped, while the dahabeah gently glided to the 
landing-place, where the reis was to deliver 
some merchandise which he had brought up 
to a dweller on the bank from a Cairo dealer in 
ironware. 

From the landing-place on the river the 
party had time to take a ride inland, and Nabul 
and Abdal had the donkeys all ready as soon 
as the gangplank was pushed out. There was 
no trouble in getting the little donkeys off* the 
boat. The minute they saw the dry land they 
made a dash for the shore. And weren’t the 
donkey boys on the landing mad when they saw 
that the strangers had brought their own don- 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 87 


keys. They howled and shouted, and wanted 
to know how the Cairo donkeys could be ex¬ 
pected to carry the visitors through the sand and 
rough soil hereabouts. 

However, they felt better when Mustapha 
picked out two of their donkeys, — one for 
himself and the other for the two little girls, — 
grumbling at the same time something about 
“ too many children,” but as Nabul whispered 
to Abdal, “ Mustapha was like an old camel 
with a hard mouth and a soft heart.” 

The little girls were wild with delight that 
they were going, too. Menah sat with her 
feet hanging over one side and Zaida behind her 
with her feet dangling down the other side of 
the little donkey. 

Away went the little procession, the donkeys 
kicking up a cloud of dust. The road wound 
through fields of grain, and along the roadside 
were to be seen children guarding cows and 
goats and other animals, who shouted merry 


88 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


greetings to our little friends as they passed by. 

It was not long before Mustapha, who was 
riding ahead, called out, “ Now you can see 
the village, there between the palms,” at the 
same time pointing with his cane — which a 
dragoman is never without — to a large grove 
of palm-trees they were approaching and 
amongst which were huddled a lot of queer flat- 
roofed houses. 

“ I don't see anything but big stones,” said 
George. 

“ Let’s see who gets there first,” cried Nabul; 
and giving the donkeys a tap away the boys 
raced, the Pasha being the first to come to a 
halt beside the palm-trees. 

“ Now I can see that one of the stones is a 
house, Uncle Ben,” cried George as they drew 
up closer. 

There were some natives standing on the 
little landing of the minaret of the mosque, 
which no village hereabouts is without, whether 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 89 

it be large or small, and the children lost no 
time in following their example and climbing 
up the crazy stairs which wound around inside 
the slim tower. 

The view round about was wonderfully varied. 
On one side stretched away the sandy desert, 
where the Bedouin shepherds guarded their 
flocks of goats, leading them from one little 
oasis to another, wherever they could find 
enough herbage to make a meal. On the other 
side was the flowering river-bottom of the Nile, 
one of the richest agricultural regions in the 
world. 

Just beside the mosque was a great grove of 
date palms, and George thought it very strange, 
and very much to his liking, too, that he could 
reach out his hand just beyond the gallery 
railing and pick the golden dates. “ How I 
should like to come up here every day/’ he said 
as they made their way down to the ground. 

Just before the entrance to the mosque was a 


90 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


great stone statue which astonished George 
and his uncle very much. The natives, too, 
evidently had a great regard for it, as they 
had planted a lot of low-growing, flowering 
trees all about it, sheltering it as if it were in a 
bower. 

“ How long do you suppose it has been here, 
Uncle Ben ? ” asked George, as he took his 
seat on the broad foot of the big statue. 

“ A long, long time, certainly, my boy,” 
replied his uncle, “ perhaps thousands of years.” 

After admiring the great statue awhile longer 
they discovered Mustapha sitting on the shady 
terrace of a coffee shop. He was drinking an¬ 
other of those little cups of muddy-looking, 
sweetish Turkish coffee of which the Egyptians 
are so fond. Uncle Ben, too, liked it very much, 
fcr it was usually made of the purest of Mocha 
coffee which comes from the other side of the 
Red Sea not far away from Egypt, so he too 
stopped for a cup, the boys meanwhile wander- 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 


9i 


ing off with the little girls quite by themselves. 

When they all got back to the coffee shop 
again each of the children had a little wicker 
cage or basket in which was imprisoned a 
chameleon, a queer little beast like a lizard, 
which lives by catching flies and insects. 

The Egyptians have a superstition that to 
have a chameleon in the house is almost as 
good as having a cat — and they are very fond 
of cats, too. The cat catches rats and mice 
and the chameleon gathers in all the stinging 
bugs and insects and flies. This chameleon is 
thus a very useful little animal indeed. When 
frightened it changes the colour of its skin 
instantaneously in a most remarkable manner. 
It takes on quite a different colour from what 
it had a moment before. If it is lying on a green 
leaf it becomes a green colour so like the leaf 
it can hardly be seen, or if on the yellow sand or 
a gray stone it becomes yellow or gray in turn. 
The children had bought the chameleons for a 


92 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


few small coins from some native boys whose 
acquaintance they had made in their stroll 
about the village. 

Mustapha finally called out that they must 
go on if they wanted to get back to the boat 
before dark. 

The next morning George was awakened at 
daybreak by a funny sort of singing and a great 
clucking of poultry. He dressed himself quickly 
and ran out on deck. The crew had cast off 
from the moorings, and as the big sail was 
being hoisted the sailors sang a slow, monoto¬ 
nous chant with the words, “ Pray, pray to 
Mohammed ! ” as a sort of chorus. In a few 
minutes the dahabeah was again under way. 

From the “ menagerie ” still came a clucking 
of distressed hens, a snorting and braying of 
donkeys, mingled with the shouts of children. 

“ What can be the matter ? ” thought George 
as he hurried to the forward end of the 
boat. 


Ben Hassans Dahabeah 93 

There a funny sight met his eyes! The pet 
snake had, by some means or other, wriggled 
itself out between the slats of its box during the 
night and eaten one of the hens, and now lay 
gorged and drowsy on the deck, raising its 
head occasionally to give a feeble hiss at the 
other chickens, who were clucking and fluttering 
about at the ends of their cords, frightened out 
of what few wits a chicken has. 

Nabul and Abdal were doing their best to 
pacify the donkeys, who showed that they 
didn’t like snakes either, by trying to back over 
the side of the boat. 

The cockatoo was swinging on his perch with 
every feather standing on end, while Menah 
and Zaida stood huddled together on top of a 
box, though they knew that the snake could 
not bite as his fangs had been taken out. 

In the middle of the commotion was Mus- 
tapha, angrily scolding the sailor who owned 
the snake and who was cringing and bowing 


94 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

before the dragoman, making all sorts of ex¬ 
cuses for his snake. 

“ Do we buy fowls to feed thy snake ? ” 
demanded Mustapha angrily. “ Thou shalt 
pay the price of the chicken.” 

“ Indeed, it was a fine fat hen and cost several 
piastres,” put in Mizram. 

The sailor meanwhile was putting the sleepy 
snake back into its box, calling it an “ ingrate ” 
and a “ heartless viper ” for thus causing its 
master so much trouble. 

“ What a lot of talk over one chicken,” 
laughed George when he was telling his uncle 
about it. But this is just the way these people 
go on over small things. 

When things quieted down breakfast was 
served on deck, after which the children hung 
on the railings and enjoyed watching the many 
things of interest on the shores as the strong 
northerly breeze carried the dahabeah swiftly 
along. Sometimes they passed so near the shore 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 95 

that they could call to the little brown children 
paddling along the water’s edge, who would 
answer back greetings, and hold out their hands 
and call out, Backsheesh, give us back¬ 
sheesh,” which meant they wanted pennies 
thrown to them. 

Menah and Zaida were much interested in a 
group of girls who had brought their big copper 
pots and water-jars down to the edge of the 
river, and were scrubbing them while they 
chatted together, after which they would fill 
the jars with water and balancing them on their 
heads go gaily singing back to their homes. 

“ See the fisherman yonder, he is about to 
throw his net,” cried Abdal, pointing to a man 
who stood on the high bank with a large net 
gathered up in his arms. With a swing of his 
arms the man skilfully flung the net out into the 
river. It spread out into a great circle as it 
touched the water. The boys explained to 
George how it was weighted with stones, and 


96 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


as it slowly sank to the bottom it would im¬ 
prison the fish so they could not get away. 
One has to be very skilful to do that, they said. 

Sometimes the children would all gather 
around Mustapha and listen to his wonderful 
tales. How when he was young he took long 
journeys on camel-back far south in the great 
Lybian Desert, which they could see stretching 
away on their right. Once, too, he had there 
killed a lion which had chased him, and there 
were still lions to be found there, but not so 
many as there used to be. When he told them 
how he had seen crocodiles basking in the sun on 
the river banks, not so very far from Cairo, the 
children clapped their hands and wanted to 
know if they weren’t going to see some croco¬ 
diles. 

“ And hippopotamuses, too ? ” asked George. 
But Mustapha shook his head and said he 
thought not, that there was so much traffic and 
so many steamboats and other craft on the river 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 97 

now that these animals had been frightened 
away and were only found now in the Upper 
Nile, far beyond where they were going. This 
disappointed the boys very much. 

Then again to while away the time the little 
Egyptians would show George how to play 
their games, while George in turn would attempt 
to teach them some of the American children’s 
games. 

On several occasions the sailor brought his 
tame snake on the upper deck and showed them 
all the wonderful tricks his pet could do. The 
snake would follow him all around the deck, 
holding its head erect and waving it about as 
if it liked the queer little tune the man whistled. 
The sailor offered to let the snake wrap itself 
around the boys’ arms, but they would not 
agree to this, though they thought it amusing 
enough to watch its tricks with its master. 

Everybody was so much amused by the snake’s 
tricks that Mustapha amiably told the sailor he 


98 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

would not have to pay for the chicken it had 
eaten. 

Abdal had been telling the “ little Effendi ” 
so much about his home in the country that 
George was anxious to see an Egyptian 
farm. 

So the boys talked it over with Mustapha, 
and as the farm was not far from the river 
Mustapha said it would be possible to stop off 
there for a day or so on their way back. 

Mustapha then busied himself all one day 
writing a letter to Abdal’s father, saying that 
he and his party would stop at his farm and 
telling him what day the dahabeah would be 
at his landing, that he might make preparations 
to welcome the American Effendis. 

George wondered how Mustapha was going 
to send the letter, but just then a big “ steam 
dahabeah ” passed them coming down the 
river crowded with a lot of tourists. The 
reis said this was their chance to send back 


Ben Hassan’s Dahabeah 99 


Mustapha’s letter. So he hailed it and as it 
slowed down he ordered several of his crew 
to launch the small boat which the dahabeah 
carried. This they did, and rowing over to the 
steamer threw the letter on board as she steamed 
past them. So George thought there was some 
use after all for a steamboat on the Nile, though 
it did seem out of place and not at all as com¬ 
fortable and picturesque way of travelling as 
by a sailing vessel. 

It was always a great event for the children 
when the boat was tied up near some little 
village in order to lay in a new stock of provis¬ 
ions, to get some grain to carry further on, or 
to deliver some which they had brought from 
Cairo. They would all go on shore and it was 
great fun watching the people who came from 
near-by farms bringing vegetables and fruits 
and fowls to sell. They crowded around 
Mustapha, who did the bargaining, shouting 
in a high voice the prices of their wares. At 

) » 

) ) ) 


> * > 


loo Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

each landing they always found the water-sellers 
who refilled the big water-jars on board, from 
the goat-skin water-bags slung by a strap over 
their shoulders. All the little children came 
trooping down from the neighbouring villages 
to stare shyly at the strangers, often hiding 
half-afraid behind their mother's gowns; but 
whether they were shy or bold, all of them 
would hold out their hands for backsheesh; 
even the babies perched on their mothers' 
shoulders held out their little hands, though 
they could not speak a word. 

“ 'Tis the strangers who have spoiled them," 
Mustapha said as he drove away a crowd of 
little children who were pestering George at 
one little village. “ They throw coins to the 
little ones on the banks as they go past on the 
great steamers; they mean it kindly, but it 
teaches our little Egyptian children to beg and 
that makes them bad," and the fat dragoman 
scowled at the village children until they shook 


Ben Hassans Dahabeah ioi 

in their little slippers and ran away as fast as 
possible. 

As they went farther up the river the green 
fields grew fewer and fewer and the yellow 
sand of the deserts on both sides came nearer 
and nearer the river. 

One morning the Isis rounded a sharp bend 
in the river and there in the distance were a 
group of tall columns, rising from the bank 
surrounded by houses and trees. 

“ ’Tis Luxor, the site of the most wonderful 
ruins in all Egypt,” said Mustapha with pride. 

Everybody crowded eagerly forward while 
Mustapha pointed out the places of interest. 
First came the part of the town where the Egyp¬ 
tians live and then the great hotels and gay 
shops, and finally, just at noon, our dahabeah 
pushed its high prow in among a lot of other 
dahabeahs and smaller craft, and tied up 
alongside the old temple with its row of a hun¬ 
dred tall columns which towered high above 
them on the river bank. 


CHAPTER V 


AN EGYPTIAN FARM 

The little folks and the donkeys as well were 
wild to get on shore again and stretch their 
legs a bit, for they had not left the boat for 
several days. As soon as they could get away 
from the boat they scampered off past the big 
hotels where many tourists were sitting on the 
verandas and in the gardens sipping cool drinks 
just as they did at Cairo. 

Everywhere George and his uncle were 
followed around by people who wanted to sell 
them relics which they said they had found in 
the ancient ruins, — coins and scarabs and 
pottery, and all sorts of odd things. Mustapha 
waved them all away. “ Their antiquities are 


102 


103 


An Egyptian Farm 

only make-believes/’ he said, with contempt. 
“ There are people who make these imitations, 
and these fellows make a business by selling 
them to travellers as real curiosities. Some¬ 
times there were real treasures that could be 
picked up at a bargain, but not so many as in 
the old days,” said Mustapha. 

Sun-up next morning found our little party 
riding out on another excursion. Mizram 
had packed many good things to eat in a big 
palm-leaf basket covered over with green leaves 
to keep the things cool, and this was slung across 
Teddy Pasha’s broad back. Our friends were 
to have a picnic among some riverside ruins. 

Soon they were riding between two rows of 
stone figures; an avenue of Sphinxes, like the 
great Sphinx at the Pyramids, only much 
smaller, and in a few minutes more all dis¬ 
mounted at the entrance to a great temple. 

Such a rabble surrounded them! Beggars 
clamouring for backsheesh, people wanting to 


104 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

guide them through the ruins, and vendors of 
relics. Mustapha and the boys had to use their 
sticks freely to make the crowd stand back. 

Two donkey boys promised to look after 
the donkeys, so after threatening them with 
all sorts of dire punishments if any harm should 
come to their animals, Nabul and his cousin 
ran after their little American friend. 

For several hours Mustapha led his little 
band in and out among the great columns and 
across the broad courts of ancient temples. 
There seemed to be thousands of these columns, 
some standing in long rows, others lying broken 
on the ground. How the children stared at the 
pictures painted on the walls by the old Egyp¬ 
tians, the colours as fresh as if they had just 
been painted. Mustapha showed them how 
these pictures made a regular story-book, if one 
only knew how to read them. Here were a lot 
of pictures that told all about the doings of 
one of the Pharaohs, — how he went to war 


An Egyptian Farm 105 

and the battles he fought. There were other 
pictures showing how he went hunting, and the 
various kinds of animals and birds he had 
brought back with him from the chase. 

The children thought it was most amusing to 
read a story-book like that, and went about 
trying to make up stories for themselves out of 
the pictures. 

They stopped to watch a number of men hard 
at work among the ruins lifting a fallen stone 
column. More than three hundred Egyptians 
were working to set up the fallen columns and 
clear away the rubbish, and they worked in 
much the same way as did the ancient Egyptians 
who built the same temples. There were many 
young boys, too, helping to pull on the long 
ropes by which the columns were raised. 

“ Come, let us hunt and perhaps we can find 
some relics for ourselves/’ said Nabul. “ One of 
the donkey boys last year found a little statue.” 

“ I would like to find a mummy,” exclaimed 


io6 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


George, as the boys went to work prodding 
in the sand with their sticks. 

“ Mummies are too heavy to carry away,” 
said Abdal, wisely shaking his head. 

“ I should like to find a doll,” whispered 
Menah to her sister as they too turned over 
the sand in their little fingers, thinking of her 
own curious little dolls at home fashioned 
after the same manner as those frequently 
found among the ruins. “ You remember the 
great traveller who went with our father in the 
dahabeah to some old city ? How he had 
many men to dig in the sand for him, and how 
they found many wonderful things there ? 
Well, he said that often the dolls and toys that 
were put in a little girl's tomb would be made 
of gold and silver,” replied Menah. “ I should 
like a doll of real gold to play with.” 

Pretty soon the children tired of their search 
and stretched themselves out in the shade of an 
enormous stone column to rest. 


io7 


An Egyptian Farm 

Our party made many excursions to see 
many other old ruins, and one day Mustapha 
took them to see some funny camel races. It 
was the queerest thing in the world to see the 
long-legged camels come swinging along, cov- 
ering yards and yards of ground at each step, 
each camel ridden by an Arab in flowing white 
dress and head covering. After this there was 
a race among the donkey boys. Nabul and 
Abdal were wild to join in this, but found 
it was against the rules for outsiders to 
enter. 

“ They are jealous, they know we could beat 
these up-country donkeys,” Nabul consoled 
himself with saying, but he hurrahed with 
everybody else all the same when a lively little 
gray donkey, ridden by a small boy in a green 
dress, reached the goal first and got the 
prize. 

One morning early found the Isis again 
sailing up the river toward Assouan and the 


108 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

Great Cataract, which was to be their last 
stopping-place. 

When George and Uncle Ben arrived at 
Assouan it was market-day, and the square by 
the riverside was filled with all sorts of queer 
people and things. 

For centuries lower Egypt had been period¬ 
ically flooded and then dried out again, and the 
poor native farmers and fellaheen had suffered 
greatly, many, many thousands even dying of 
starvation. All the great volume of water in the 
river Nile became at certain seasons a mere 
trickling rivulet. 

In late years a plan whereby all lower Egypt 
was to be properly watered and drained has 
made even the poorest of the labourers of the 
countryside happy and prosperous. This great 
benefit was brought about by the building of 
a great dam just above Assouan, and as the 
water was let through little by little in the dry 
season, and properly stored up when it flowed 


An Egyptian Farm 109 

in abundance, it proved to be just the treatment 
that was needed to make an otherwise suffering 
people quite contented with their lot. 

“ I want to see the great Assouan dam/’ 
said George one morning as he and Uncle 
Ben were just finishing their breakfast. George 
was a most inquiring little fellow, and he had 
heard some men talking of this great work at the 
hotel, and he wanted to see for himself what it 
really was. 

George had become so expert with donkeys, 
that Uncle Ben called him his little donkey boy. 
Soon all was ready and Mustapha headed the 
little procession that made its way quickly 
along through clouds of dust and began strug¬ 
gling over a stony desert road. 

Little Menah was riding behind George and 
Mustapha had been gracious enough to let 
Zaida sit behind him. The reason of this was 
that the donkey boys on the quay, who were a 
lot of wild young fellows from the desert, had 


iio Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

come to blows among themselves as to which 
of their number should go with our party 
to supply the two extra donkeys required, 
whereupon Mustapha said he wouldn’t have 
any of them, that they were a set of black 
heathens anyway, — for some were little negro 
boys from the Soudan, — so he borrowed a 
donkey from a friend of his for himself, and 
divided up the party in this way. 

Mustapha was so big and fat and his donkey 
so small that poor little Zaida had scarcely any 
room to sit comfortably. George could hear 
Menah shaking with laughter at her sister’s 
efforts to keep from slipping off at every bounce 
the donkey gave. 

Meanwhile Mustapha, quite unconscious that 
they were amused at him, was gravely telling 
them that the high wall of bricks which followed 
their road was the old-time boundary to Egypt 
and was built to keep back the hordes of bar¬ 
barians from the south, but now Egypt was a 



An Egyptian Farm 111 

much greater country and went far beyond this 
wall. 

Soon they came into a little village on the 
bank of the river which spread out here like a 
lake. The children laughed when they dis¬ 
mounted and looked at each other. They were 
so covered with dust that the brown little 
Egyptians looked white. They shouted and 
clapped their hands with glee when Mustapha 
told them to get into a big boat painted with the 
brightest colours. Six tall black Soudanese, 
dressed in white, with red fezes, pulled at the 
oars, keeping time to a queer sort of chant. The 
children were so busy watching the rowers 
that, before they knew it, they were gliding 
past a tiny temple that seemed to be rising out 
of the water. 

“ This is the ancient temple of Phike, one 
of the most beautiful in Egypt,” said Mus¬ 
tapha. “ It is on an island, but since the great 
dam of Assouan was built the island itself is 


112 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

covered by water, and if the dam is raised still 
higher, as they talk of doirg, the little temple 
will be entirely covered with water, or perhaps 
destroyed, which would be a pity.” 

On arriving at the great dam they got into 
another boat which took them over the First 
Cataract, or waterfall, on the Nile. Not over 
the worst part of it by any means, but quite 
“ scary ” enough for the little girls. Shortly 
after they were again back at Assouan. 

George would have liked to have kept on up 
the river to the city of Khartoum, where there 
is a great school or college erected as a memorial 
to General Gordon, who opened up and first 
introduced outside civilization into these parts, 
but their plans would not permit of spending the 
extra time. To-day this magnificent school is 
filled with intelligent, hard-working Egyptian 
boys who, when they leave college and go out 
among their fellows, do much to benefit and 
lift them from the ignorance and superstition 
which formerly existed. 


An Egyptian Farm 113 

So the Isis was headed for home, and the good 
dahabeah raced along, borne by the strong 
current of the river, as if it knew it was on its 
way home. The happy days passed quickly and 
our little friends had many adventures of which 
there is not time to tell you. 

As they came to the wide fertile country above 
Cairo, and neared AbdaPs home, the children 
were on a sharp lookout, and Abdal was wonder¬ 
ing who would come down to the river to meet 
them. When the Isis did run her sharp prow 
into the bulrushes at the little landing-place 
for the farm of AbdaPs father, where Mus- 
tapha proposed to stop, not only were all of 
Mustapha’s friends there, but most of the vil¬ 
lagers besides, and they all gave the visitors 
the heartiest of welcomes. There was AbdaPs 
father and mother and the baby, and his little 
brother, who kissed him on both cheeks, and 
each in turn took the hand of each visitor, kissing 
his own hand at the same time, a pretty little 
custom among these people. 


114 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

After the actual landing Uncle Ben and 
George mounted the donkeys, and followed 
by the others on foot, all talking and in the 
highest spirits, they rode for some distance 
through great fields of cotton and rice until 
they came to a little village nestled away in the 
midst of palm-trees. 

Here they stopped at Abdal’s father’s house, 
which was the biggest in the village, for Ali- 
Hij az was the chief man of the little village and 
had many “ fellaheen,” or labourers, working 
in his cotton, rice, and cane fields. 

Ali-Hij az’s house, like all the houses in the 
village, was built of mud bricks, which had first 
been baked by the sun; it was thatched with 
palm-leaves, and the trunks of palm-trees 
strengthened the walls and formed the rafters. 
Their host invited them into a large room, 
where they all seated themselves on mats 
spread on the hard earthen floor. While Ali- 
Hijaz offered Mr. Winthrop a long-stemmed 


An Egyptian Farm 


1 15 


pipe to smoke, Abdal and Nabul ran to the 
little Arab cafe of the village and soon came 
back bringing a big metal tray on which were a 
number of small cups and tiny tin pots of coffee. 
This was put in the middle of the floor and each 
person was served with a cup and one of the 
little pots of coffee. Menah and Zaida amused 
themselves playing with the baby, while their 
two mothers gossiped together, and George 
made friends with Abdal’s little brother Amad, 
whom he thought looked very cunning in his 
white cotton gown and little turban stuck on 
his clean-shaven head. 

“ Just think, Uncle Ben,” laughed George, 
“ he can barely walk and yet he goes to the village 
school at five o’clock in the morning and stays 
till sundown, only coming home for dinner in the 
middle of the day. Whew! but that’s hard 
work ! ” 

“ And then, all he learns is to recite the Koran 
-— the Mohammedan Bible — at the top of his 
voice,” replied Mr. Winthrop. 


Ii6 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

“ That little mite! ” said George with a 
mock groan. “ Well, I am glad I go to school 
in America.” 

But Amad seemed to grow fat in spite of it, 
and was at the head of the procession when 
the children trooped out to see the village. 
All the houses looked alike, with only one big 
wooden door and no windows, just little slits 
in the walls for air and light. Within most 
of these houses there was no furniture of any 
kind, save some rugs, mats, and cooking utensils, 
and a few boxes made of the wood of the palm- 
tree, in which to keep the family clothes. Ab- 
dal’s father had two European beds in his house 
which he had brought from Cairo, but the vil¬ 
lagers had no use for such new-fangled things. 
As they walked along all the little village chil¬ 
dren ran out to talk to Abdal and followed them 
until, as Nabul said, the procession looked like a 
kite with a long tail. There were almost as 
many dogs as children, and George fought 



GREAT CREAKING WOODEN WHEEL. 








An Egyptian Farm 117 

rather shy of the fierce-looking mongrel curs 
that barked at their heels. 

Abdal took them into the fields where there 
was a “ sakiyeh,” or water-wheel, by which the 
fields are watered. A lazy-looking old camel 
was slowly turning a great creaking wooden 
wheel, and this turned another wheel on the 
rim of which were fastened a lot of earthen jars. 
These jars were filled with water as the wheel 
went down into a sort of well, and as it came up 
the water from the jars was emptied into a ditch 
which carried it over the fields in every direction. 

Here for the first time George saw a camel 
ploughing, and such a funny plough it was! 
Just a log of wood with a pointed iron tip at 
one end and an upright pole at the other, by 
which the ploughman could guide it. 

When they got back to the home at sunset 
they found Ali-Hijaz had persuaded Mr. Win- 
throp to stay a day or two, as there was some 
good bird shooting in his rice fields, a sport 


118 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


of which Uncle Ben was very fond. This 
pleased the children, and that evening they had 
lots of fun playing one of their games called 
“ Playing Pasha.” They elected a “ Pasha,” 
and the choice fell on George, whom they put 
in a kind of litter made of palm branches. 
Four of their number carried this on their 
shoulders while the rest ran beside carrying 
lighted wisps of straw and hay for make-believe 
torches. One of the boys meanwhile beat a 
drum, and another played a small flute; and 
thus they marched around the village until 
the torches were all burned out and their mothers 
called them to bed. 

The two guests were made comfortable in 
one of the beds, which were only kept for grand 
occasions like this, and early the next morning 
Mr. Winthrop and his host, with Mustapha, 
were off* to shoot rice birds. 

“ We will go and see the wild pigeons,” said 
Abdal, as the boys wondered how they should 


An Egyptian Farm 119 

amuse themselves. “ I know where there are 
many of them roosting in the trees.” 

“ Good/’ answered Nabul, clapping his 

hands, and the boys started off across the fields. 

. » 

The Egyptian folk are very fond of the wild 
pigeons of the country, and like to catch them 
and keep them for pets. 

At the same time many of the Egyptian boys, 
too, are so cruel as to hunt these gentle birds, 
killing them with stones which they throw 
with unerring aim. 

“ Hist! they roost here,” whispered Abdal 
as they came to a clump of low trees. Just then 
a number of pigeons flew out of the trees; at 
the same time, to the great surprise of the boys, 
one apparently was injured, and fell to the 
ground, and Nabul ran to pick it up. Some 
one had evidently injured its leg or wing. Just 
then two wild, savage-looking young boys came 
dashing up to Nabul crying, “ Thou hast killed 
one of our tame pigeons, our father shah beat 


120 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

thee,” trying at the same time to snatch the 
bird away from Nabul. 

“ ’Tis not true,” returned Nabul angrily, 
“ dost thou think I am such a dullard as not to 
know a wild pigeon from a tame one ? ” 

“ And I know these birds well, I have often 
been here, they always roost in these trees,” 
exclaimed Abdal. “ I know thee, and I know 
that thy pigeons are far from here.” 

The Egyptians in the country usually tame 
many of these pigeons, and build them little 
houses to live in on the side of their own, and 
sometimes one will see a big mud tower in the 
village where hundreds of these pigeons live 
and build their nests. 

In the midst of the dispute a tall man with an 
ugly, scowling face strode up with a stick, so, 
thinking things were getting too hot for them, 
our little friends turned and fled toward the 
village, Nabul, however, triumphantly holding 
on to the pigeon. 


An Egyptian Farm 


I 21 


The other hunting party had brought back a 
big bag of birds and were well pleased with the 
day’s work. 

The next day they were to take leave of their 
kind hosts and go back to the Isis. When 
George awakened in the early morning, such a 
wailing met his ears he could only imagine that 
some one must be dead. Throwing on his 
clothes he rushed down the short flight of steps 
that led from his room to the big room on the 
ground floor and from there into the yard. 
There he saw Nabul lying face downward on the 
ground beside the stable door, with his sisters 
sitting beside him rocking themselves back¬ 
wards and forwards and wailing piteously, 
while Abdal and the older people rushed wildly 
about all talking at once. 

“ What is the matter ? Nabul, are you hurt ? ” 
cried George, rushing up to the little group. 

“ Teddy Pasha is gone, some thief has stolen 
him,” they all cried in one breath. 


122 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 


It was only too true, the little donkey had 
mysteriously disappeared in the night. Nabul 
had got up early to get the Pasha ready for 
their return to the boat. He had found the 
little donkey gone, as well as his bridle and 
saddle; Nabul had been looking for him ever 
since and had just come back broken-hearted. 

“ Oh, Nabul, we are sure to find him ! Come 
and we will all look,” cried George, nearly 
ready to cry himself, — he had grown really 
attached to his little steed. 

Poor little Nabul lifted up a wobegone face 
and slowly rose to his feet. His donkey was 
like a brother to him, and he felt he would 
never see him again. 

No one thought of going back to the boat 
until the little donkey was found, and the whole 
village turned out to search for him. 

Suddenly Nabul struck his forehead with his 
hand. “ I know now! Those two ruffian boys 
we saw yesterday! ’Tis they who have stolen 


An Egyptian Farm 


123 


my donkey. The wretches! This is their 
revenge ! We will go to their house and demand 
news of the Pasha,” cried the distracted little boy. 

“ Follow, I know the way,” said Abdal. The 
boys hurried through the fields and rice swamps 
until they came to a tumbled-down group of 
mud huts. No one was in sight save an ugly- 
looking brute of a dog and a little girl, who 
peered at the strangers from behind a corner 
of a wall. 

Nabul boldly went up and shook the heavy 
wooden door of the house and called loudly, 
but it was tightly fastened and no one an¬ 
swered. He then gave the whistle he always 
used to call Teddy Pasha, but only the dog 
began to bark. 

George was for battering in the door, but the 
boys said it was no use. “ Teddy is not here, 
or he would have answered me,” sighed Nabul, 
as he turned away sorrowfully, “ but they 
have stolen him, I am sure.” 


124 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

“ They would not dare keep him here so 
near our village,” replied Abdal. “ They have 
doubtless put him in some hiding-place far off. 
That is their sister,” he continued, pointing to 
the little girl behind the wall. “ Where art thy 
brothers ? ” he demanded, but she only laughed 
and made a face at them. 

“ She knows something,” said George, mak¬ 
ing a face in return at the child. But there was 
nothing for them to do but walk away and 
keep on with their search. 

At sundown the boys returned home and poor 
Nabul sat on the ground with his head buried 
in his arms, refusing to be consoled. He had 
eaten nothing all day, and when his mother 
brought him a nice dish of curds she had made 
herself, he only shook his head. 

It was a miserable household and nobody 
slept much that night. George and Abdal 
refused to go to bed at all and sat beside Nabul 
in the big room. Just as George was dozing 


An Egyptian Farm 


125 


away at daybreak he was roused up by a terri¬ 
ble bray just outside the door, answered by 
one from Bobs in the stable. 

Like a flash Nabul, who had heard it too, 
tore open the house door and nearly tumbled 
over Teddy Pasha, who calmly walked into 
the middle of the room and stood there as much 
as to say, “ Here I am, at last/' 

Little Nabul gave a shriek of joy and threw 
his arms about the little donkey’s neck and cried 
and laughed in the same breath. Abdal called 
out the good news, and in another moment 
everybody was petting Teddy Pasha and mak¬ 
ing as much to-do over him as if he were a long- 
lost member of the family. As for the little 
American, he was as happy as could be to see 
the little companion of his wanderings once more. 

But the poor little donkey, wasn’t he a sight, 
all covered with mud ! He had evidently been 
taken away and hidden in the rice swamps; 
his pretty bridle and saddle were gone, and only 


126 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

a dirty and knotted piece of rope was around 
his neck. An ugly cut on one of his feet showed 
where he had been hobbled; his captors had 
evidently done everything to keep him secure, 
but in spite of it he had broken away by some 
means or other, and had come straight back 
to his master. 

After leaving Abdal’s family, and just as our 
party were going on board the dahabeah, Nabul 
picked up an odd greenish pebble. 44 What 
a funny looking stone! ” he said. 44 It looks 
just like a beetle.” 

44 That is what the learned ones call a scarab, 
— don’t you know there are many of these in the 
big museum at Cairo ? ” cried Abdal, as the 
children bent over the tiny stone. 

44 Oh! maybe it is old,” exclaimed George 
eagerly, 44 and worth lots and lots of money.” 

Just at that moment a party of learned looking 
men, Europeans, came up the bank from their 
dahabeah which had tied up just below the Isis . 


127 


An Egyptian Farm 

At their head was a Frenchman, an inspector 
of the Egyptian public monuments. With his 
party he was going some miles inland to pass 
judgment upon some newly discovered ruins 
of which he had recently heard. 

“ Let us go and ask the great Frenchman, 
he surely can tell us,” and so saying, Nabul 
ran back to where Mr. Winthrop and the 
Frenchman were already talking together. 

“ Please, monsieur, is this old ? ” said Nabul, 
in his queer French, holding up the little pebble 
carved in the form of the sacred beetle of 
the Egyptians. 

“ Eh! ” said the great man, taking the 
beetle in his hand. “ Is it old, indeed ! ” he 
exclaimed in great excitement. “ It is a sacred 
scarab. Most rare ! There are only two others 
like it in the world. Where did you find it, 
mon petit? ” 

Nabul pointed out the spot where he had 
found the stone. 


128 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

“ Voil a! and to think that I have already 
passed over that spot and did not know one of 
the most ancient and most wonderful scarabs 
known to the world was lying there! ” and the 
great man paced up and down, running his 
hands through his hair. 

“Mon petit” the Frenchman said at last, 
stopping in front of Nabul, “ you know the 
great museum at Cairo ? Well, if you will take 
this little stone to the gentleman who is in 
charge there, he will be very glad to have it, 
and the authorities of the museum will reward 
you handsomely; it is worth more than money 
to them. I will give you a letter, which you 
must also give to this gentleman,” and so saying 
the Frenchman took a pencil out of his pocket, 
and, tearing a leaf out of a small blank book, 
quickly wrote a few words and gave it to Nabul. 
“ I will write him myself at once,” he con¬ 
tinued, “ but I beg of you to guard the scarab 
most carefully. I rely on you to see that he does 


An Egyptian Farm 


129 


not lose it,” said the Frenchman, turning ear¬ 
nestly to Mr. Winthrop. “ It does not seem 
fair to take it from him unless I at once took it 
myself to Cairo, and it is impossible for me to 
leave here now.” 

Mr. Winthrop and all of them promised, for 
they were all now interested in the wonderful 
stone, and Nabul proudly and carefully hid 
it inside his embroidered vest. 

There was a happy little party on the daha- 
beah when she set sail again, and many were 
the farewells to the kind people of the little 
village, who all came to see them off. 

And wasn’t Teddy Pasha a spoiled and pam¬ 
pered little donkey ! He was petted and fed and 
rubbed down by everybody on board until he 
not only looked as fine and sleek as ever, but 
also got so fat and lazy that Mustapha doubted 
if he would ever be willing to do any more work. 

At last the Isis floated up to her moorings at 
Cairo, and everybody felt that they were home 


130 Our Little Egyptian Cousin 

again. The first thing George did was to buy the 
finest donkey saddle and bridle he could find 
in Cairo and give to Teddy Pasha, who there¬ 
upon got vainer than ever. George and his 
little Egyptian friends took many more rides 
together before he and Uncle Ben went back 
to America. They all went together when 
Nabul carried the wonderful scarab and the 
Frenchman’s letter to the great man in the 
big museum, who talked very wisely about it. 
He thanked Nabul and told him he had done 
his country a service, and used a lot of long 
words that the children could not understand. 
But one day, not long afterward, a man in a 
fine uniform came riding in great style up to 
Nabul’s house and gave little Nabul a sealed 
packet from the authorities of the big museum, 
and in it was a handsome sum of money for the 
little donkey boy who found the wonderful 
scarab. 

It was enough indeed to set him up as a 


An Egyptian Farm 131 

dragoman when he was older, but this would 
not be, Nabul promised himself, until he had 
first made a visit to see his little friend, George, 
in that wonderful country over the sea. 

And thus it happened that the Little American 
Cousin really did bring the good fortune to 
little Nabul, the youngest donkey boy in the 
big city of Cairo. 


THE END. 











THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES 


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Each one vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six or more 
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Our Little Scotch Cousin 

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Each one volume, small 12mo, illustrated . . #0.35 


LIST OF TITLES 

Aunt Nabby’s Children. By Frances Hodges White 
Child’s Dream of a Star, The. By Charles Dickens. 
Flight of Rosy Dawn, The. By Pauline Bradford Mackie. 
Findelkind. By Ouida. 

Fairy of the Rhone, The. By A. Comyns Carr. 

Gatty and I. By Frances E. Crompton. 

Helena’s Wonderworld. By Frances Hodges White. 
Jerry’s Reward. By Evelyn Snead Barnett. 

La Belle Nivernaise. By Alphonse Daudet. 

Little King Davie. By Nellie Hellis. 

Little Peterkin Vandike. By Charles Stuart Pratt. 
Little Professor, The. By Ida Horton Cash. 

Peggy’s Trial. By Mary Knight Potter. 

Prince Yellowtop. By Kate Whiting Patch. 

Provence Rose, A. By Ouida. 

Seventh Daughter, A. By Grace Wickham Curran. 
Sleeping Beauty, The. By Martha Baker Dunn. 

Small, Small Child, A. By E. Livingston Prescott. 
Susanne. By Frances J. Delano. 

Water People, The. By Charles Lee Sleight. 

Young Archer, The. By Charles E. Brimblecom. 




COSY CORNER SERES 

It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall 
contain only the very highest and purest literature,— 
stories that shall not only appeal to the children them¬ 
selves, but be appreciated by all those who feel with 
them in their joys and sorrows. 

The numerous illustrations in each book are by well- 
known artists, and each volume has a separate attrac¬ 
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Each i vol., i6mo, cloth .... $0.50 

By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 

The Little Colonel. (Trade Mark.) 

The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its hero¬ 
ine is a small girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, 
on account of her fancied resemblance to an old-school 
Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and old family 
are famous in the region. 

The Giant Scissors. 

This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures 
in France. Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, 
and in later volumes shares with her the delightful ex¬ 
periences of the “ House Party ” and the “ Holidays.” 

Two Little Knights of Kentucky. 

Who Were the Little Colonel’s Neighbors. 

In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an 
old friend, but with added grace and charm. She is 
not, however, the central figure of the story, that place 
being taken by the “ two little knights.” 

Mildred’s Inheritance. 

A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who 
comes to America and is befriended by a sympathetic 
American family who are attracted by her beautiful 
speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is en¬ 
abled to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the 
use of her eyes, and thus finally her life becomes a busy, 
happy one. 


L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


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Cicely and Other Stories for Girls. 

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Aunt ’Liza’s Hero and Other Stories. 

A collection of six bright little stories, which will 
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Big Brother. 

A story of two boys. The devotion and care of 
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theme of the simple tale. 

Ole Mammy’s Torment. 

“Ole Mammy’s Torment” has been fitly called “a 
classic of Southern life.” It relates the haps and mis¬ 
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love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. 

The Story of Dago. 

In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, 
a pet monkey, owned jointly by two brothers. Dago 
tells his own story, and the account of his haps and mis¬ 
haps is both interesting and amusing. 

The Quilt That Jack Built. 

A pleasant little story of a boy’s labor of love, and 
how it changed the course of his life many years after 
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Flip’s Islands of Providence. 

A story of a boy’s life battle, his early defeat, md hh 
final triumph, well worth the reading. 



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A Little Puritan’s First Christmas. 

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A Little Daughter of Liberty. 

The author introduces this story as follows: 

“ One ride is memorable in the early history of the 
American Revolution, the well-known ride of Paul 
Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is another 
ride, — the ride of Anthony Severn, — which was no less 
historic in its action or memorable in its consequences.’* 

A Loyal Little Maid. 

A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary 
days, in which the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler* 
renders important services to George Washington. 

A Little Puritan Rebel. 

This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the 
time when the gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of 
Massachusetts. 

A Little Puritan Pioneer. 

The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settle¬ 
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A Little Puritan Bound Girl. 

A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great 
interest to youthful readers. 

A Little Puritan Cavalier. 

The story of a “ Little Puritan Cavalier ” who tried 
with all his boyish enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and 
ideals of the dead Crusaders. 

A Puritan Knight Errant. 

The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who 
endeavored to carry out the high ideals of the knights 
of olden days. 



L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramie') 

A Dog of Flanders : A Christmas Story. 

Too well and favorably known to require description. 

The Nurnberg Stove. 

This beautiful story has never before been published 
at a popular price. 

By PRANCES MARGARET FOX 

The Little Giant’s Neighbours. 

A charming nature story of a “little giant” whos* 
neighbours were the creatures of the field and garden. 

Farmer Brown and the Birds. 

A little story which teaches children th at the birds 
are man’s best friends. 

Betty of Old Mackinaw. 

A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to 
the little readers who like stories of “real people.” 

Brother Billy. 

The story of Betty’s brother, and some further ad- 
ventures of Betty herself. 

Mother Nature’s Little Ones. 

Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, 
or “ childhood,” of the little creatures out-of-doors. 

How Christmas Came to the Mul« 
vaneys. 

A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor chil¬ 
dren, with an unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. 
The wonderful never-to-be forgotten Christmas that 
came to them is the climax of a series of exciting inci¬ 
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COSY CORNER SERIES 


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The Little Lame Prince. 

A delightful story of a little boy who has many ad¬ 
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Adventures of a Brownie. 

The story of a household elf who torments the cook 
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children who love and trust him. 

His Little Mother. 

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Little Sunshine’s Holiday. 

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For His Country. 

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Nita, the Story of an Irish Setter. 

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Alpatok, the Story of an Eskimo 
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Alpatok, an Eskimo dog from the far north, was stolen 
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The Fortunes of the Fellow. 

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The Best of Friends. 

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Down in Dixie. 

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Loyalty Island. 

An account of the adventures of four children and 
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Theodore and Theodora. 

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The Cruise of the Yacht Dido. 

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hidden treasure. 

The Young Acadian. 

The story of a young lad of Acadia who rescued a 
little English girl from the hands of savages. 

The Lord of the Air. 

The Story of the Eagle 

The King of the Mamozekel. 

The Story of the Moose 

The Watchers of the Catnp=fire. 

The Story of the Panther 

The Haunter of the Pine Gloom. 

The Story of the Lynx 

The Return to the Trails. 

The Story of the Bear 

The Little People of the Sycamore. 

The Story of the Raccoon 

By OTHER AUTHORS 

The Great Scoop. 

By MOLLY ELLIOT SEA WELL 

A capital tale of newspaper life in a big city, and 
of a bright, enterprising, likable youngster employed 
thereon. 

John Whopper. 

The late Bishop Clark’s popular story of the boy who 
fell through the earth and came out in China, with a 
new introduction by Bishop Potter. 



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widely different. 

Larry Hudson’s Ambition. 

By JAMES OTIS , author of “TobyTyler,” etc. 

Larry Hudson is a typical American boy, whose hard 
work and enterprise gain him his ambition,— an educa¬ 
tion and a start in the world. 

The Little Christmas Shoe. 

By JANE P. SCOTT WOODRUFF 
A touching story of Yule-tide. 

Wee Dorothy. 

By LAURA UPDEGRAFF 

A story of two orphan children, the tender devotion 
of the eldest, a boy, for his sister being its theme and 
setting. With a bit of sadness at the beginning, the 
story is otherwise bright and sunny, and altogether 
wholesome in every way. 

The King of the Golden River: a 

Legend of Stiria. By JOHN BUSKIN' 

Written fifty years or more ago, and not originally 
intended for publication, this little fairy-tale soon be* 
came known and made a place for itself. 

A Child’s Garden of Verses. 

By L. R. STEVENSON 

Mr. Stevenson’s little volume is too well known to 
need description. 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


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By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 

Each i vol., large i2mo, cloth decorative, per voi. $1.50 

The Little Colonel Stories. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated. 

Being three “ Little Colonel ” stories in the Cosy 
Corner Series, “ The Little Colonel,” “ Two Little Knights 
of Kentucky,” and “ The Giant Scissors,” put into a 
single volume. 

The Little Colonel’s House Party. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated by Louis Meynell. 

The Little Colonel’s Holidays. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 

The Little Colonel’s Hero. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated by E. B. Barry. 

The Little Colonel at Boarding 

(Trade Mark) 

School. 

Illustrated by E. B. Barry. 

The Little Colonel in Arizona. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated by E. B. Barry. 

The Little Colonel’s Christmas Va* 

(Trade Mark) 

cation. 

illustrated by E. B. Barry. 

The Little Colonel, Maid of Honour. 

(Trade Mark) 

Illustrated by E. B. Barry. 



Z. C PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


The Little Colonel. 

(Trade Mark) 

Two Little Knights of Kentucky. 
The Giant Scissors. 

Big Brother. 

Special Holiday Editions 

Each one volume, cloth decorative, small quarto, $1.25. 
New plates, handsomely illustrated, with eight full- 
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“ The books are as satisfactory to the small girls, who find 
them adorable, as for the mothers and librarians, who delight 
in their influence.” — Christian Register. 

These four volumes, boxed as a four volume set . $5.00 

In the Desert of Waiting: The Legend 

of Camelback Mountain. 

The Three Weavers: A Fairy Tale for 
Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
Daughters. 

Keeping Tryst. 

The Legend of the Bleeding Heart. 

Each one volume, tall i6mo, cloth decorative . $0.50 
Paper boards . . . . . . .35 

There has been a constant demand for publication 
in separate form of these four stories, which were orig¬ 
inally included in four of the “ Little Colonel ” books. 

Joel: A Boy of Galilee. By Annie Fel¬ 
lows Johnston Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 

New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel 
Books, 1 vol., large i2mo, cloth decorative . $1.50 

A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the 
author’s best-known books. 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


Asa Holmes ; or, at the cross-roads, a 

sketch of Country Life and Country Humor. By 
Annie Fellows Johnston. With a frontispiece by 
Ernest Fosbery. 

Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.00 

Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads’ is the most de¬ 
lightful, most sympathetic and wholesome book that has been 
published in a long while.” — Boston Times. 

The Rival Campers; or, the adventures 
of Henry Burns. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

Here is a book which will grip and enthuse every boy reader. 
It is the story of a party of typical American lads, coura¬ 
geous, alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on an 
island off the Maine coast. 

“ The best boys’ book since ‘ Tom Sawyer.’” — San Fran¬ 
cisco Examiner. 

The Rival Campers Afloat ; or, The 

Prize Yacht Viking. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

This book is a continuation of the adventures of “The 
Rival Campers ” on their prize yacht Viking. An accidental 
collision results in a series of exciting adventures, culminat¬ 
ing in a mysterious chase, the loss of their prize yacht, and 
its recapture by means of their old yacht, Surprise. 

The Rival Campers Ashore. By ruel 

Perley Smith, author of “ The Rival Campers,” 
“ The Rival Campers Afloat,” etc. 

Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

“ The Rival Campers Ashore ” deals with the adventures 
of the campers and their friends in and around the town of 
Benton. Mr. Smith introduces a new character, — a girl,— 
who shows them the way to an old mill, around which the 
mystery of the story revolves. The girl is an admirable ac¬ 
quisition, proving as daring and resourceful as the camper* 
themselves. 


I 




Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


The Young Section=Hand; or, The Ad¬ 
ventures of Allan West. By Burton E. Ste¬ 
venson, author of “ The Marathon Mystery,” etc. 
Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by L. J. 
Bridgman . . . . . . . $1.50 

Mr. Stevenson’s hero is a manly lad of sixteen, who is given 
a chance as a section-hand on a big Western railroad, and 
whose experiences are as real as they are thrilling. 

The Young Train Dispatcher. By bur¬ 
ton E. Stevenson, author of “ The Young Section- 
hand,” etc. 

Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1-50 

The young hero has many chances to prove his manliness 
and courage in the exciting adventures which befall him in the 
discharge of his duty. 

Captain Jack Lorimer. By Winn stan- 

DISH. 

Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by A. B. 
Shute.$1.50 

Jack is a fine example of the all-around American high- 
school boy. He has the sturdy qualities boys admire, and 
his fondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a 
chord of sympathy among athletic youths. 

Jack Lorimer’s Champions; or, Sports 

on Land and Lake. By Winn Standish, author of 
“Captain Jack Lorimer,” etc. 

Square i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1 .50 

All boys and girls who take an interest in school athletics 
will wish to read of the exploits of the Mill vale High School 
students, under the leadership of Captain Jack Lorimer. 

Captain Jack’s Champions play quite as good ball as do 
some of the teams on the large leagues, and they put all 
opponents to good hard work in other summer sports. 

Jack Lorimer and his friends stand out as the finest ex¬ 
amples of all-round American high school boys and girls. 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


Beautiful Joe’s Paradise ; or, the island 

of Brotherly Love. A sequel to “ Beautiful Joe.” 
By Marshall Saunders, author of “ Beautiful Joe.” 
One vol., library 12mo, cloth, illustrated . " $1.50 

“ This book revives the spirit of ‘Beautiful Joe ’ capitally. 
It is fairly riotous with fun, and as a whole is about as unusual 
as anything in the animal book line that has seen the light. It 
is a book for j uveniles — old and young.”— Philadelphia Item. 

’Tilda Jane. By Marshall Saunders. 

One vol., i2mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 

“ It is one of those exquisitely simple and truthful books 
that win and charm the reader, and I did not put it down 
until I had finished it — honest 1 And I am sure that every 
one, young or old, who reads will be proud and happy to 
make the acquaintance of the delicious waif. 

“ I cannot think of any better book for children than this. 
I commend it unreservedly.”— Cyrus Townsend Brady. 

The Story of the Qraveleys. By mar¬ 
shall Saunders, author of “ Beautiful Joe’s Para 
dise,” “ ’Tilda Jane,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by E. B. 
Barry . . . . . . . $1.50 

Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and triumphs, 
of a delightful New England family, of whose devotion and 
sturdiness it will do the reader good to hear. 

Bom to the Blue. By Florence Kimball 
Russel. 

i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.25 

The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on 
every page of this delightful tale. The boy is the son of a 
captain of U. S. cavalry stationed at a frontier post in the 
days when our regulars earned the gratitude of a nation. 




L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


In West Point Gray. By Florence Kim 
ball Russel. 

i2mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.25 

West Point forms the background for the second volume 
in this series, and gives us the adventures of Jack as a cadet. 
Here the training of his childhood days in the frontier army 
post stands him in good stead; and he quickly becomes the 
central figure of the West Point life. 

The Sandman: His Farm Stories. 

By William J. Hopkins. With fifty illustrations by 
Ada Clendenin Williamson. 

Large i2mo, decorative cover . . . $1-50 

“ An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of very 
small children. It should be one of the most popular of the 
year’s books for reading to small children.”— Buffalo Ex¬ 
press. 

The Sandman: More Farm Stories. 

By William J. Hopkins. 

Large i2mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1 50 

Mr. Hopkins’s first essay at bedtime stories met with such 
approval that this second book of “ Sandman ” taies was 
issued for scores of eager children Life on the farm, and 
out-of-doors, is portrayed in his inimitable manner. 

The Sandman: His Ship Stories. 

By William J. Hopkins, author of “ The Sandman : 
His Farm Stories,” etc. 

Large 121110, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 

“ Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who put the 
little ones to bed, and rack their brains for stories, will find 
this book a treasure.” — Cleveland Leader. 

“Children call for these stories over and over again.”— 
Chicago Evening Post. 








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